Guts, Glory and Glove Oil
by Nehszriah
Summary: Lina Inverse has just one dream: to play baseball in the Major Leagues! What happens when she is signed to an expansion team and has to play the part of a man? Read and review please. LinaGourry, AmeliaZelgadis, NagaAirJay
1. The Ballad of Bloody Mary!

Konnichi-wa all! A new year, another Slayers/sports alternate universe here for everyone to read! Oh, I have been waiting so long to put this thing up! -squee- Hopefully, everyone likes it. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball and a good number of other things in this story. Some questions are answered and other things explained/disclaimed at the bottom of the text in the "Things To Know" spot. Thus shall begin my homage to my favorite summer sport...

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**Guts, Glory and Glove Oil**

Ichi

_The Ballad of Bloody Mary! Memoirs of A Tomboy!_

"_People ask me if I play softball. Every time I am asked, I just smile and curtly reply: _

" '_No, I play baseball.' _

"_I smile a cocky smile and my voice is spiteful. My demeanor gets across the message I'd rather say:_

" 'Softball? Me? Ha! Softball is a women's sport.'

"_You see, my name is Lina Inverse. I am not sure if you have heard my real name or not. Most of the time, I am referred to by my nickname. They call me Bloody Mary. That is because when I was playing Little League as a child, I hit a ball into the pitcher's face and smashed it so bad that he needed reconstructive surgery for his nose and left cheekbone. The damn kid should have known not to call me "Butch" while I had a bat in my hand. Ten-year-old boys are so stupid sometimes._

"_That was twelve years ago, when I was the only girl in my Little League. Since then, I have made it to play for my high school team as a shortstop and slugger extraordinaire. The name of Bloody Mary stuck with me as I moved up in class. My school was always one of the best as long as I was assured a place on the baseball team. Professional softball teams have tried to recruit me. They beg for my presence. Every damned scout gets turned down. Softball is for girls. I do not play girls' sports. My father had always wanted a son, but when he got my older sister Luna and me, he transformed us into fierce tomboys. Luna is now a mechanic in the NASCAR stock car circuit. I am his avid athlete. My mother died when I was three, so I never was able to get into the feminine side of being a girl. It was always baseball, football, soccer, ice hockey, wrestling and basketball for me. Since baseball was not all-year, I played all the other sports that I could. _

"_When we were in school, Luna and I were bugged about joining volleyball and girl's basketball. Neither of us did. I instead joined the wrestling team, football team and practiced basketball with the boy's team. Luna went into the mechanic's club. Our choice in pastimes made sure that we did not make friends easily. Both of us were made out to be butch lesbians and shunned by nearly all the other girls in school. The guys knew us better than that. My teammates and Luna's fellow mechanics were kinder to us than their girlfriends could have ever been. They never were completely nice to us however. The fact that we were females in a male's world always unnerved them to a degree. It made my father sad that we never did anything like go to school dances or prom with anyone. One of my wrestling teammates asked me once when I was a senior in high school to go to prom with him. I told him that I liked him enough, but did not want to go to a stupid dance. The girl he did take instead of me ended up getting pregnant. He now has two kids and a very unhappy marriage at the tender age of twenty-one. Glad I backed out of that situation._

"_Therefore, I have remained without a boyfriend ever since. I never did have a boyfriend before that to begin with, so the whole concept is not missed. My time, life and money is devoted to my sports and most importantly, getting into the major leagues. If I succeed, then I will break that stupid MLB gender barrier that has yet to be broken._

"_MLB, or Major League Baseball for those who do not know the acronym well, is one of the things I was brought up on. It is a series of two professional leagues in North America that has teams in the United States of America and Canada that play with and against one another during the spring and summer months. Divided up into the National League and American League, it is the place where young boys dream of going in order to become the next Nolan Ryan or Babe Ruth, that is before they wise up and decide to become lawyers and engineers. You can say that I never gathered the smarts to do that; to move on and want to become a nurse or a teacher, but all of my dreams lie in that dusty diamond where legends are born and worshiped as living gods._

"_I want to become a living god._

"_Jack Robinson broke the color barrier sixty-one years ago, in 1947. He was the first man of African descent to play in the league since the segregation movement sixty years earlier. During the second world war, there was a women's professional baseball league, to make up for all of the drafted men who were off at war. They even made a movie about it. Now, in the year 2006, I want to be the first woman to play where the greats played, participating in the exact same sport. I will not settle for softball. I want to play with the guys. I want to be one of them. I want my name on those little cards that come in with packs of gum and I want to rub elbows with the greats._

"_I, Lina Inverse, will play professional baseball."_

Lina pressed the button on the tape recorder and sighed. It was the second day of the year, yesterday being the day where people make resolutions that would help them to better their lives in the year to come. Those self-vows nearly always were broken within a week to month's time, but not Lina's. Lina Inverse resolved for the year 2006, to get into Major League Baseball.

She did not know why she was keeping a cassette tape journal, but she felt that it would be better than a diary. One thing was definitely for sure: the little black cassette tape was not as feminine as a diary. Lina hated feminine. Ever since she was small, she rather preferred the bat and mitt to dolls and a tea set. Glove oil was her Chanel No. 5 and spiked cleats her high heeled shoes. As Lina walked across her bedroom and put the tape recorder in her dresser drawer, she wondered how in the hell she was going to get herself out there.

Lina literally lived in Nowhere. It was a little town in Oregon that had been carefully placed far away from major cities. Her father had loved Nowhere. It was where he grew up, raised his girls and died. It was such a small town that everybody knew everybody else, whether anyone liked it or not. There was very little to the town: an apartment complex, some houses, a few sit-down restaurants, some stores, a police station, fire department and medical clinic. The whole population could probably support one another if they were cut off from the rest of the state. From the window of her apartment, Lina could see where the baseball diamond was. She almost lived at that baseball diamond as a child. It was where she grew up. It was where she found herself. It was where...

_Ding-Dong_ rang her doorbell. Lina rushed over to the front door of her small and very messy apartment and swung it open quickly. There was her best friend Amelia Wil Tesla Seiryuun. She was the only girl to ever talk to her nicely growing up, so Lina made sure she and Amelia had stayed friends. She treasured their friendship like hardly anything else in the world, besides baseball of course.

"Why aren't you ready for work yet?" Amelia scolded. She was standing in the hallway seeming very cross at Lina, who looked as if she had just gotten out of bed. Amelia barged in and closed the door behind her, glaring Lina down.

"Oh, come on Amelia!" Lina sighed. "Our shift does not start for another half an hour!"

"I don't care," Amelia said with a highly official air to her voice. "You are never on time unless I force you to be." Her short, black hair bounced as she spun around to go into the sloppy kitchen to wash dishes.

"Fine, fine," Lina grumbled as she disappeared into her room. Five minutes passed and she emerged in the khaki pants and red button-up shirt that was her work uniform. She was supposed to have all of her buttons done and have on a black bowtie like Amelia did, yet the top two buttons were undone as she checked herself in the hallway mirror. Those bowties were always a pain to mess with and they perpetually toyed with her gagging reflex. The tie-less Lina grabbed her coat and turned to Amelia, who was still in the kitchen cleaning.

"Are you coming to work with me or are you going to stay here and clean my apartment?"

"I'm coming Miss Lina," Amelia groaned. She grabbed her own coat from the coatrack and joined Lina out in the hall. "I swear, you live like a neanderthal bachelor."

"Always have, always will," Lina replied as she locked her apartment up. "Come on now, or we're going to be late."

The two friends then traveled out into the cold morning air to walk to work. Nowhere, Oregon was at least a blessing to live in because nearly everything was close to everything else. Amelia still lived with her father and Lina's apartment was about a five minute walk away in any sort of weather and their jobs took about ten minutes to get to from Lina's. Amelia would threaten Lina with moving in to take care of her tardiness and laid-back housekeeping, yet Lina knew the threats were hollow. The little town, currently covered in five inches of brisk, white snow, would gossip to no end about the two of them. In fact, some were just waiting for Amelia to move in with Lina. Amelia's father, Philionel Wil Tesla Seiryuun, knew it and would have never let his daughter get into a situation like that. He only had Amelia, since his wife died and his eldest girl ran away. The last thing he needed was people talking about an imaginary love affair between his Amelia and her best friend.

Now, Lina and Amelia worked down at the local hardware store. Mr. Farquain, the owner, had been a good friend of Lina's father when he was alive and was still good pals with Amelia's father. The three had been best of friends in high school and stayed that way ever since. It was a good thing too, since almost no other place in town would hire Lina for some reason. Maybe because she was the town misfit. Amelia became just about the same as the town misfit for even talking to Lina, so she was able to find work there as well. In fact, they were the only two workers there besides Mr. Farquain's two sons Sander and Martin. Sander was a year younger than Lina and Amelia and Martin was in the middle of his third year of high school himself. The five got along perfectly and therefore were able to keep shop open nearly every day of the year, including that particular morning since it was technically a national holiday.

"Hey there Sander," Lina said as soon as she and Amelia walked in the door. A young man with short brown hair and a starchily clean uniform on greeted them from on top of a ladder that went to the ceiling.

"Hey there Lina," Sander said as he put boxes of wood screws onto the high shelf. "How are you doing?"

"Good," Lina said. She and Amelia began to walk over to the back room when out of nowhere, Sander's brother Martin came dropping from the rafters, suspending himself in midair by a rope tied around his waist.

"Hi!" he grinned. He had hoped to scare the girls, but instead, they walked right past him without even batting an eye. Martin scratched his dark brown hair and wondered where his plan to spook them went wrong.

"Where have you two been?" Sander called into the back room. Amelia emerged from the room with her store apron on and smirked.

"Why is there a cigarette still lit in the back room?"

"A cigarette? What the hell?" Sander panicked. He put the last wood screw box on the shelf and ascended the ladder rungs hastily. "Martin! Can you explain why Amelia just told me that there was a lit cigarette in the back room!"

"Yeah," Martin grinned, looking down from the rafters. "She's playing a joke on you."

"Haha! I swear Mr Sander, you are just too easy to fool!" Amelia laughed. Lina came out of the back room laughing herself. It was always fun to play jokes on Sander because he was very tightly strung and proper. Martin was the outspoken brother, always causing trouble with Lina. Most of the time, Amelia sided with Sander, yet she could not help to get in on the fun every once in a while.

"Very funny, now get to work!" Sander said sharply. The other three just sniggered and began their daily cleaning routine.

"Hey Sander!" Lina called out from the other end of the shop. "Where's your dad?"

"He must have caught something yesterday," Sander replied from behind the counter. "Dad's got a bad cough and a fever. Mom told him to stay home today."

"Too bad," Lina said, walking up to the counter and resting her broom on the glass case the sharp carving knives were kept in. "I wanted to talk to him about baseball."

"Lina," Sander sighed, putting his checklist of stock items down on the counter. "We go through this constantly. The only way that you are going to ever make it to the Major Leagues is if you leave this town and suddenly become a guy."

"Yeah, but your dad nearly made it to the professional level!" Lina interjected. "I want to know all about how to get in!"

"When my dad wanted to play in the Major Leagues, it was nearly thirty years ago. Things were different back then. Besides, do you really think that you are going to be accepted into the professional baseball world with just a snap of your fingers?"

"Sander," Lina moaned. "I am known all over the state as 'Bloody Mary.' I am the girl that was dropped into a sea of testosterone upon birth. I want to play baseball! I can compete at the men's professional level!"

"Shut up, will you?" Martin yelled from the rafters of the store. "I'm trying to listen to the radio!"

"It can't be that important!" Sander retorted.

"I think there's gonna be a few new teams added to the baseball leagues this year!"

"Shut up Sander!" Lina said quickly as she bounded up the huge ladder to where Martin stayed for most of the workday to avoid actually having do physical work. There was his domain which consisted of some empty chip bags, pop cans and an old air radio that was picking up some sports news station that had some fairly heavy static blur the words every now and then.

"_Today it was announced that there will be two new teams added to the Major Leagues for..._-static-_...2006 season," _the broadcast announcer said. "_The National League East Division shall gain the Knoxville Gladiators and the American..._-more static-_...gain the Portland Slayers._

"Yes!" Lina squeaked to herself. Martin hushed her as the announcer continued.

"_In a surprise turn of events, Rezzo Graywords, the owner of the brand new Portland team declared that he shall hold open tryouts in March at the new Jones Soda Stadium in order to scout out local talent. All..._-static-_...over eighteen are welcome and encouraged to try out on Sunday, March the fifth. More information after these words from our sponsors..."_

"Did you hear that Lina?" Martin exclaimed happily. "You can go try out! You could be on the Portland Slayers!"

"What do you mean 'could be'?" Lina laughed. "I will be! Look out baseball, here I come!"

* * *

**Things To Know**

Lina's Disdain For Softball, Feminine Things and Those Pricks In Her Life: This is just the Nehszriah screaming out of her little keyboard-of-doom. Being a proper prissy young lady reeks. Tomboyish geeks shall rule the world with their brotherly male minions. This fiction won't just be me preaching though, I swear on it. There is still Amelia, right?

Glove Oil: Yup! I, as well as our Lina, love the smell of glove oil and machine shops and prefer them over perfume.

Nowhere, Oregon: Like I really know or care if this place exists. I made it up. In fact, according to my spiffy road atlas, Nowhere, Oregon only exists in my imagination.

Sander: Yes, there was a Sander in _Olympians At Heart_. This is not the same person. They have different surnames. Him and his little brother are actually an inside joke, since I know a set of brothers with these exact same first names.

Why Oregon Exactly?: There's no baseball team there yet.

Umm... Knoxville?: Yeah, a baseball team for Tennessee. -lacking enthusiasm-Yippie.

Rezzo: Shut up! My Rezzo story-arch is to be revealed next chapter! It might already have revealed itself, but just... shush please!

Is This A Sequel To _Olympians At Heart_?: No! Why would this be a friggin' sequel? Plot and such is going to be totally different and I might be lynched for some plot devices used... such as Rezzo.

When Is the Next Update Going to Be?: Monday. I plan on posting a chapter every Monday until I run out of pre-typed chapters to post... which at the current moment should be on February 27th. Until then, I should be set for a weekly updating schedule. If I finish early enough (meaning before the end of the Turin Olympics), I might go to bi-weekly for the month of March, maybe even earlier than that if all goes well. I have been put a tad bit off schedule, but hopefully I'll catch up! Please leave a spiffy review! Arigato!


	2. A Managers Worst Nightmare!

Huzzah! I love it that I got a review almost instantly! Danke Catgirl! -huggle- Ah, the joys of being a fiction-ka... and the splendid agony of coming to school. Yup, I'm back in school. Blast it all. I really want to come, but don't want to come, if that makes any sense. At least I can still update and read stories and such. With any luck, the school filter won't block you guys. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball or anything that is not a by-product of my own brain. Read, review and enjoy!

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Ni

_A Manager's Worst Nightmare! The Signing of Liam and Kurt!_

The next two months in Lina's life after hearing the radio announcement saw a great change in her habits. She woke up early every day to practice at the baseball field by her house, even with the snow on the ground. With her never ending arsenal of orange-painted baseballs and a pitching machine, she had batting practice for an hour and a half before being picked up by Amelia to go to work. Half of Lina's lunch break consisted of running about town and during work she lifted all of the heavy items for Sander so that she worked out her arm muscles. Old Man Farquain noticed Lina's change in habit and attitude, for she was generally much nicer to the customers than usual. Finally, March 5th came around just as cold and blustery as it had been expected to be.

"Miss Lina!" Amelia called out, banging on the door to Lina's apartment. "We have to hurry fi you want to get to the stadium on time!. It was five-thirty in the morning and Amelia knew it was going to take both of them a long time to get to Portland by car.

"I'm here," Lina moaned as she opened the door, bat bag in hand and all ready dressed in her hooded sweatshirt and loose blue jeans that she had planned on wearing to the tryouts.

"Good, now come on," Amelia said. She yanked her friend from the doorway and barely let her close up the apartment before dragging her down the stairs and out to the small car she had borrowed from her father for the day.

"Come on. Do we really have to leave this early?" Lina yawned as she put her equipment bag in the trunk of the car.

"Yes," Amelia said frankly as she got behind the wheel. "We need to get on the road before any traffic does and do you realize how far away Portland is?"

Amelia waited for an answer from Lina, yet did not receive one. Lina was fast asleep in the seat next to her. Sighing, Amelia just took a sip of her Bawls energy drink and started off towards their destination.

**80808080808080808**

It was noon at Jones Soda Stadium in Portland and everything was just calming down from a very hectic morning. There were close to about forty-five men there that made it past the initial screening and allowed to convene out on the field. It was still chilly, despite the midday sun, forcing the men to just stand around in a circle and talk.

"Look at them all down there," an red-haired old man said wheezily from his lofty skybox seat, high above the men. He was seated in a wheelchair and had a red blanket over his lap for warmth. His manner reflected one of a past great, of a nameless athlete lost to the ages. Another man stood next to him. He wore a dark purple suit, an odd grin on his face and an unusual haircut. "They all want to be that lucky man who is going to join the team. Too bad I have to send all but one away."

"Yes, it is a shame Mr. Graywords," the other man said. "I would throughly enjoy it if I could manage all of them down there, yet I agree that most have to go."

"Metallium," Rezzo coughed. "What do you think that we should do to pick the best?"

"I am not sure. What do you believe we should do sir?"

"I think that you should go straight home Grandfather," a voice said out of nowhere. Xellos jumped and turned around quickly to find that the voice was that of Rezzo's adult grandson Zelgadis Graywords standing there in the skybox entrance looking highly perturbed. "I thought I told you that your cough was too bad for you to go out."

"Well, I had to come and oversee the tryouts!" Rezzo retorted. "This is my team!"

"...and it will not be your team for much longer if you ignore that cold of yours," Zelgadis moaned with a frustrated sigh. "I swear Grandfather, you are going to kill yourself if you keep this kind of stuff up!"

"What sort stuff do you mean?" Rezzo asked innocently.

"We'll start by going out of the house when you are not healthy," Zelgadis scolded as he walked over to Rezzo and Xellos. "I don't even know why you decided to take on this damn team to begin with."

"I think I'll leave you two to talk," Xellos said uncomfortably. He walked out and closed the door behind him, intent on starting the process of choosing who to send home and who to keep out of the contenders on the field.

"Zelgadis," Rezzo began. "You know that I love this sport. I was a hair's breadth away from being a starting shortstop, yet..."

"You met Grandmother," Zelgadis cut in. He had heard the story dozens upon dozens of times before. This talk always started the tale of how his grandparents met and fell in love. Rezzo would go on and on about how he left baseball to start his own business binding books in order to make a life for him and the love of his life. It was a story that grated on Zelgadis's nerves since he heard it so much. Rezzo heaved a deep sigh as he realized Zelgadis was not ready to listen to the story one more time.

"I guess you have heard my spinnings enough to know," he said wearily. "Zelgadis, please make an old man happy and let me be. I know that I should not be here, but I feel obligated to my team. This recent ailment is not going to effect the level of involvement I had originally planned on..."

"I promised my mother on her death bed that I would take good care of you."

"My boy, you were only eleven..."

"_I told her I would take care of you_! How do you think I feel when you go and simply disappear on me?" Zelgadis snapped. "I know you want to be involved with the team, that is just the way you are, yet I'll put you under house arrest if you do not rest up and allow yourself to get better!" He folded his arms and leaned against the window, allowing the light to illuminate his silvery hair and green long-sleeved shirt.

Rezzo sighed again. It was useless to fight with his grandson. He was stubborn, exactly like his grandmother and mother were when they were still alive.

"Just let me finish out the day," Rezzo pleaded.

"Fine," Zelgadis scoffed. "Then you are going back home and staying there until you are in better health."

"Agreed," Rezzo smiled. He then looked out the window to the field below. "Oh my, would you look at that."

Zelgadis peered out the window to see what was happening below. A fight seemed have broken out amongst the candidates and there was a martial-arts style fistfight occurring at that very second.

"Damn it all," Zelgadis moaned once he noted on how Xellos was part of the skirmish. "If this is Metallium's version of a joke, I am not definitely not laughing."

"Oh, come on," Rezzo laughed. "What Xellos decides to do is not within our power at the moment. Besides, this is fun to watch." It was true. Rezzo had not seen that good of a fistfight in a good twenty-odd years.

**80808080808080808**

So what if she stumbled in late? It was not Lina's fault that there was last-minute construction on the expressway and Amelia did not know her way around town. Right after arriving at the ballpark, Lina had jumped out of the car and bolted into the complex, going right past the screeners and leaving Amelia to fend for herself in the sea of rejected applicants. It was just Lina's luck though to have come in when that weird guy arrogantly asked for a volunteer to fight him. Since no one stepped up, she was immediately picked as she awkwardly entered the field. The idiot fighting her probably did not even know she was female, for her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and hidden in the hooded sweatshirt she wore.

"You yellow bastard! Come back here and take what's coming to you!" Lina shouted as her opponent made a slight retreat. The man turned his head to look at her and gave an arrogant grin.

"What are you going to do, hmm? Bite my legs off?" he chuckled, his purple eyes glinting with amusement.

_This is the one_, he thought to himself. _This is the man I am going to sign to play in the Major Leagues. My mind has been made up._

Lina did not like the manner of this man at all. His haircut was weird, she was barely able to mess his violet suit and he just seemed _way _too cocky. She had to put him in his place, for she was determined to make it to the big leagues and some whack-job loony who wanted to fight was not about to pummel her before she could even try out.

Without warning, he charged. Lina quickly dropped to the ground as his fist cut through the air. Using her new angle, she swung her leg about and tripped him. She hopped up and held down her opponent.

"You win," he chuckled into the grass and dirt. "Welcome to the team."

"What?" Lina half-whispered as she released him. The man stood up, dusted off his suit and held out his hand.

"My name is Xellos Metallium and I am the manager for the Portland Slayers. That was a test to see who would be brave enough to fight me. You won. Everyone else can go home," he said. Everyone else around them shirked off, irritated that they were not able to see the trick. Only one man stayed behind, stubbornly staying put. "Go home," Xellos repeated.

"I won't," the man replied. "I want to play. Let me fight you too."

"That is not going to be necessary," Xellos answered.

"...but I'm not going home!"

"Then come on with us," Xellos said as he walked away towards the dugout, motioning for Lina and the other ballplayer to follow. Obediently they did and followed him into the tunnel that led to the locker room. From there was an intricate labyrinth of hallways to follow Xellos through until they got to the skybox where Rezzo was seated. He looked quite pleased, two contracts and pens sitting on a table in front of him. Zelgadis was not in the room, but somewhere else at that moment.

"Ah, my two new stars... my name is Rezzo Graywords and I am the owner of the Portland Slayers," Rezzo grinned. He let out a hacking cough and then beckoned Lina and her counterpart to sit down. They did and each eyeballed their contract over with increasing pleasure.

"You, in the sweatshirt," Rezzo said. Lina looked up from reading the fine print.

"Yes sir?"

"You are a shortstop, are you not?"

"Why, yes I am. How did you know?"

"I was a shortstop once," Rezzo explained. "I know how shortstops move and I watched you fight Metallium down there." He turned to the other man. "You have to be a catcher, right?"

"I have been told I give off that impression," the man smirked, "even though I play outfield."

"Good. Good... are you two signed?" Rezzo asked impatiently.

"Yes!" both Lina and the other man said at once, triumphantly holding up their signing pens. Xellos took the contracts and read them over.

"Welcome to the team Kurt Fuchs," Xellos said as he looked at the name spot in the contract of the man sitting next to Lina. When he looked at Lina's contract however, he stopped and thought for a minute. "Inverse... wait a second... Liam is it?"

"No," Lina grinned. "My name is Lina Inverse. Where did you ever get the idea my name was Liam?" She put her hood down on her sweatshirt and pulled out her long, red hair for the guys to see.

Xellos had done it. He looked at the signature on the contract again. Over and over he checked it.

_Lina. Damn it all! It says LINA! Shit, this is not good, _Xellos thought, his face turning as red as the woman's hair in front of him.

"Metallium?" Rezzo asked. "Is something wrong?"

Xellos looked up from the paper. His eyes were bugeyed and he was sweating like a stallion there in his panicked state.

"Yes...?" he asked nervously.

"How are you going to fix this?"

"What are you talking about?" Lina protested.

"Calm yourself Miss Inverse," Rezzo said softly. "You are still going to be a fully active member of this team. Now Xellos, how are you going to correct this?"

"What do you mean?" Xellos squeaked. "There has never been a woman in the MLB before!"

"Yet I am still sure that there have been guys named Liam," Kurt interjected meekly. When Lina was fighting Xellos just minutes before, he had decided on the fact that she was definitely not a person to mess with and it would be a good idea to back her up.

"Exactly," Rezzo said right before another cough. "If we can pass Miss Inverse here off as Liam instead of Lina, then we can give solid evidence that women can play in the big leagues and she would not have any opposition to playing this sport."

"How do you expect to do that sir?" Lina asked.

"Well, it should be easy," Xellos muttered, interrupting Rezzo. "I mean, you are quite flat-chested..."

Lina's temper snapped and she immediately smacked Xellos across the face, making him stagger a little in order to keep balance.

"Miss Inverse," Rezzo said. "Metallium has a point. All you need to do is cut your hair and make sure that you do not change in front of the other team members. The three of us shall keep your secret, right?" He looked at Kurt and Xellos with firm authority and they instantly understood. Lina was to be their secret.

"I need to think about this," Xellos said, a faint tremor in his voice."Good," Rezzo smiled. "Then you can think it over some lunch. I'm starved. Would you two care to join us once my grandson gets back?"

"No thanks sir," Lina said gratefully. "I've got to go now, if that is alright with you."

"Just be back here at three o'clock sharp tomorrow, got it?" Rezzo said. Lina muttered a quick "yes" and bolted into the hallway to find where Amelia went.

"Mr. Graywords," Xellos asked. "Is this wise?"

"I believe so," Rezzo smirked. "I have a feeling that this girl is going to be the start of something much bigger than just a gender battle. She is going to start nothing short of a revolution."

* * *

**Things To Know**

Bawls Energy Drink: No, not "balls", but some odd little energy drink that is supposed to have a high amount of caffeine and such. It had no effect on me twice and then after a third bottle, I was as hyper as our Amelia on Skittles and Coke while giving a justice speech. (I had all three bottles on different days, if it makes anyone feel better.) That's bad thing to do, drink all that caffeine. I love it. -grins-

Jones Soda: Only the most awesome non-caffeinated soda pop in the world! In fact, none of the other non-caffeinated soda pop brands should be called soda pop, for they are all OWNED BY THE JONESY GREATNESS! ...and me Dew. ...and me Bawls.

My Version of Rezzo: All I ask is that I'm not lynched. -cowers-

Zelgadis Being Chimera: Will the Nehszriah make anything out of this? -Xellos-ish grin- Sore wa himitsu desu!

Zelgadis Relationship With His Grandfather: Yeah. I know that this is far from what their relationship was really like in the original Slayers story. I thought that making Zelgadis all caring for his grandfather (purely out of love for his dead mother, which I will eventually explain) and having Rezzo be this helpless old coot would make the story better. -prepares flame retardant suit-

"You yellow bastard! Come back here and take what's coming to you!": A quote from _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_. This is said by the Black Knight. Xellos's response is part of the same quote.

The Quick Signing: This is a ruddy load of bull. Like someone would really be signed as quickly as that. I just wanted to advance the story in an instant. Apologies if it took away, but I really wanted to get to writing future chapters.

Kurt Fuchs: His last name is pronounced like this: -FOOKS- The name is actually German for "fox", so please don't mispronounce it in a not so pleasant way.

Sweating Like A Stallion: I have to tell my English teacher that Arthur Miller's play _The Crucible _is good for something. -cackles-

Next Update?: Monday. Every Monday. -bobs head to Return and TRY soundtracks- Yeah... I'm keeping to the schedule I set, no matter how hard it is to keep it. -whimpers and wants to post more frequently-


	3. An Unexpected Outcome!

Argh! My class finals are coming! That's not good! This means I have to switch classes next week... and I really don't want to do that. I like me classes... except for math. I've never really liked math. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League baseball and apologize for the general shortness/cheesiness of the chapter in advance. The Olympics are coming! -squee- Sorry, I just had to say it.

* * *

San

_An Unexpected Outcome? You're More Trouble Than You're Worth!_

"Miss Lina!" Amelia called down the empty hallway. "Miss Lina! Where did you go!" It was useless for Amelia to yell. She had circled the stadium five times already looking for Lina and had not even caught so much as a glimpse of her friend. It was cold in the open-air stadium, for there was no place that she could get into that had heat. Utterly exhausted from searching, Amelia sat down on a bench and sighed. At this rate, she was not going to find Lina until sundown.

"Hey Amelia! Over here!" a familiar voice called that made Amelia's ears perk up. She turned her head to see Lina run up to her, about as happy as pig in slop.

"Where have you been Miss Lina?" Amelia whined. "I have been looking for you forever. What happened?"

"I'm in!" Lina squealed. Amelia stood up and looked her friend straight in the eyes.

"You are in? What do you mean by that you are in?" she asked questioningly.

"I'm a member of the Portland Slayers!"

"No..."

"Yes!"

Amelia could barely believe her best friend as she stood there, ready to bounce off the walls. Lina was capable of pulling some fairly mean jokes, yet nothing like this.

"Are you sure that you are not pulling my leg Miss Lina?" Amelia asked, quite suspicious.

"Amelia, I play tricks on Sander, not you. This is the real deal! I am going to play in the Major Leagues! Old Man Graywords just signed me!"

"No way..." Amelia said in awe.

"Yeah, some other guy, Kurt, he was signed too and I get to play Major League Baseball! Well, I'm gonna play under the name 'Liam', but that is not important right now... I MADE IT!"

Lina gave Amelia a tackling bear hug and laughed. She could barely keep in how excited she was to have finally been signed to a Major League team. Racing Amelia out to the car, she wondered how everyone back home would take it.

**80808080808080808**

Sander sat behind the counter of the cash register and sighed as he put his feet up on the counter top. It was a slow day, being that Sundays were always sluggish for the hardware store, particularly during the early evening hours. Most of the time, a lost motorist would pop in and ask for directions to the nearest interstate highway and be the only customer for a few hours. The bell on the door barely phased Sander as it rang, signaling a customer.

"Hey," a familiar voice said nonchalantly. Sander recognized it at once as his little brother's best friend Dalton.

"Martin's up in the rafters," he replied, pointing to a ladder that went up to the ceiling. The dark haired, athletic teen ascended the rungs and joined Martin in his hideout to begin their playing card game tournament.

_At least they are not bothering me_, Sander thought to himself. Martin and Dalton had the habit of preforming very cruel pranks on him whenever they were on the same floor as each other. The more space Sander put between him and the high school boys, the easier it was for him to stay sane. _Hmm... I wonder how Lina dared at the open-tryouts. Heh. She was probably turned away from the very start and so then she would have to have started a one-woman riot. Poor Amelia's most likely trying to scrape together bail money._

Just then, the door to the store slammed open, causing Sander to jump and fall out of his chair. He quickly got up and stood in the middle of the store's open spaced used for strolling, only to be tackled to the ground as if he were in a freshman P.E. game of football once more.

"I made it Sander! I made it! I made it! I made it! I made it!" Lina said happily as she sat on top of her friend. "I made the team!"

"Lina..." Sander moaned. "Do you _have _to tackle me _every _time you make some sort of team?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Lina replied frankly. She held down Sander's shoulders so that she knew he was paying attention. "Do you realize what I had to go through to get this far?"

"A fistfight and evading the screeners, that's what," Amelia sighed as she walked in after Lina and sleepily looked around the store. The scene of Lina and Sander did not even seem to phase her one single bit. She was absolutely exhausted after driving the entire way to Portland and back in the same day and headed straight towards the back room where she knew that there was a cot that she could rest on.

"Hey Lina?"

"Yes Sander?"

"Please get off of me."

"No," Lina replied with a grin.

"Why not?" Sander whined.

"I still need to tell you how much I'm gonna make playing baseball."

"You greedy little..." Sander started. Lina cut him off by whispering in his ear. "That much?" he whispered back. The highly amused girl shook her head in reply, still keeping close to his ear. Both Lina and Sander then started to laugh hysterically.

"Hey will you two keep it down over... whoa!" Martin yelled from the rafters. Lina and Sander looked up to see him and Dalton staring down at them with wide, semi-frightened eyes.

"What are you two doing?" Dalton half-gasped.

"None of your business," Lina spat.

"You are on top of my brother, of course it would be my business. Now get off him," Martin demanded.

"Uhh... no."

"...and why not? That is really not the best thing for a customer to see when they first walk in," Martin said.

"I'm comfortable," Lina said. "I think I'll take a nap." She tried to playfully curl up and go to sleep, but Sander shoved her off with a disgusted look on his face.

"I'll never get those two," Martin sighed as he and Dalton went back to their card game of poker.

"Ha! Sander, you should have seen your face!" Lina laughed as she sat on the store floor. Sander went back to his chair behind the counter and fumed.

"Lina, I know that we are just friends and all, but you really shouldn't do things like that."

"Do things like what?"

"Try to sleep on me for one."

"You are positively no fun," Lina huffed, folding her arms and turning away.

"Now Lina, I am not going to have you take advantage of my oldest son like that," a voice said. Lina turned towards Aisle Eight to see old Mr. Farquain standing there, chuckling to himself. He did not appear to be one that once tried out for the Major Leagues like Lina had mentioned right before she first heard about the tryouts, being that he was a very grey and wizened man, but his eyes that were full of laughter told an entirely different story.

"Mr. Farquain! Mr. Farquain! I made it! I made it! I made it!" Lina cheered as she went up and hugged her employer.

"...and I believe it too!" Mr. Farquain laughed. "You have not hugged anyone with that much enthusiasm since your father was still alive."

"Did you see her tackle me?" Sander curtly snapped.

"Every second of it," his father answered.

"Then why didn't you stop her?"

"You appeared to have everything under control."

"I made the Portland Slayers!" Lina butted in, wanting the attention back on her. "I made it into the MLB!"

"That's great Lina!" Mr. Farquain said, forgetting all about teasing his son. "How did you accomplish it girl?"

"Well, I got into a fight with the manager-person-thing and when I pinned him to the ground..."

"Who'd you beat up?" Martin asked from the rafters, poking his head out into the store below, his gaze followed shortly by Dalton's. Lina just gave him a mocking glare and continued.

"Anyways, when I was finally able to pin him to the ground, he said that I passed some weird test that he had that would pick who he was going to sign. This other guy would not leave, even though he was told to go home, and he was given a contract as well!"

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Mr. Farquain said cheerily. "Oh Lina, I know that your poor old man would have been proud of you. Did you give them a false name?"

"No, my real one," Lina smirked. "The whole world is going to know me as 'Liam Inverse' though. They're never going to know what hit 'em."

"Liam? Now why would you want a name like that?" Sander asked. "If you want a false name, then why don't you pick something random and out of the ordinary instead."

"Hey, Liam and Lina sound enough alike, don't they?" Lina snapped. "At least I won't have to learn to answer to something totally different, like Michael or Nick."

"That is true," Mr. Farquain said thoughtfully. "When do you leave for spring training?"

"I don't know. I have to go back there tomorrow and find out," Lina replied. "Ooooh! This is so exciting! Look out baseball, here comes Lina Inverse!"

"You mean 'Liam' Inverse?"

"Shut up Sander!" Lina said, going after her friend again. This time, she ended up slamming him into the wall in a fierce bodycheck. Mr. Farquain sighed, knowing that this venture of Lina's would be more trouble than it was worth.

**80808080808080808**

"_I did it,"_ Lina said into her tape recorder with a huge grin plastered across her face.. Without a sound, she sat down on her bed in the new apartment she was renting in Portland. _"I am officially a member of Major League Baseball._

"_I am not anyways. My male look-alike, Liam Inverse, is the one who is in on everything. So much attention is brought upon me, as well as my fellow local rookie Kurt, that I am not sure how long I can keep up this masquerade. It is true that I have the backing of Kurt, my creepy manager, Old Man Graywords and Amelia, but how would the rest of the team do with keeping such a secret? Not well I suppose. It is already bad enough that I am getting a good portion of the attention._

"_...the worst part about that is that I like the attention I get. I wonder how much attention I would recieve if I revealed that I was a woman let's say... midway through the season?_

"_That would be disastrous. Everything that Old Man Graywords worked hard for would be thrown back at him like the catcher always tries to return the ball to the pitcher. In an instant he would be the butt of all jokes. 'Graywords's Folly' is most likely what everyone would call me. I could quickly become one of baseball's more infamous athletes. Worse than Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox for their gambling and worse than Ty Cobb for his bitter disposition. I do not want to become a women's lib pioneer, just a baseball player with great stats._

"_Why does being a female have to constantly suck?"_

The smile from Lina's face was gone now, a stern look replacing it with grim solidity. She stopped the tape and put it in her dresser. After the tape recorder was safely tucked inside the dresser drawer, Lina found some scissors and went to the bathroom, knowing that she had some business to take care of.

* * *

**Things To Know**

The Lina/Sander Moment: No, this is not the start of a romance. These two are best of friends and therefore, are able to do things like, pin the other to the ground in a highly compromising position.

Shoeless Joe Who...?: "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (who did wear shoes) was a player on the Chicago White Sox waaaay back from 1915 to 1919. He and some of his buddies on the team accepted some money to lose the 1919 World Series and they were banned from baseball because of it. Many people nowadays think Joe was taken advantage of since he was not very well educated... but it is in the past and the man's long dead, so there is nothing we can do about it now.

Ty Cobb: A man who was phenomenal on the field, behind the plate, wore a Detroit Tiger uniform for 22 out of 24 years of his career, voted into the first class of inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY... yet he was still a huge jerk-off who was not very happy or well-liked.

Wait, Did the Author Pull _Another _Time-Warp?: Yes. The last scene with Lina is after Spring Training, but not before Opening Day.

Nehszriah, Was This Chapter Necessary?:Yes, it was. I know it was a bit... filler-ish, but I had to do it. Do not question please. The short length is so that I can simply move on to the next stage in my plot to... TAKE OVER THE WORLD! -evil laugh- Wait, did I just say "take over the world"? I meant to say... ah, forget it. This chapter's similar to my math homework: I don't wanna complete it, but I gotta do it in order to go forward. The only difference is... I don't do my math homework. -sweatdrop- I need to go study.


	4. What's His Problem?

So to some, it may appear that I am a feminist... and know what I am doing. I am definitively not the former and well as for the latter, let's just say that this is how I practice and polish my writing technique. Also, Gourry shall appear in due time. I miss him too. Yayness! My story actually starts to pick up! -dances- You have been warned: there are many OC names that are going to crazily pop up out of nowhere in this chapter that will eventually have some actual role in the story. Please pay attention. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, Jones Soda, the Detroit Tigers, or most other things I write about because I am a simply fanfiction junkie.

* * *

Shi

_What's His Problem? Baseball's Hidden Wizard!_

Zelgadis walked into the empty skybox suite that just a month previous was the place where Lina Inverse and Kurt Fuchs signed their contracts. It was April 3rd and the christening home game of the virgin ballfield was upon the Slayers. Jones Soda Stadium was just hours away from its first Major League baseball game and the scene was one of pure pandemonium. Spectators already were filing into the ballfield. The grilles tactfully scattered throughout the premises had sizeable lines of customers wanting to buy hotdogs and soda pop. Merchandise stands displayed their wares: jerseys and memorabilia from the fledgling Portland Slayers. The big stars of the day was not to be any of the visiting Detroit Tigers, but two rookies from somewhere in the state of Oregon, Kurt Fuchs and Liam Inverse. Zelgadis did not know that Liam was the alias of a woman, but he really could have cared less. The whole thought of his grandfather owning a professional baseball team made his stomach churn. The man was not in the best of health and as Zelgadis walked across the dark room and over to the window, he knew that the man was wandering around the stadium, actually more like wheeling himself around the stadium, making what Zelgadis figured to be an absolute fool out of the Graywords name. Rezzo had not kept his promise to rest up and get better and at night now, Zelgadis could hear violent coughing fits come from his grandfather's bedroom. With his health being compromised, Zelgadis wondered if Rezzo would even make it to the All-Star Game in July.

_Why am I even here? _Zelgadis asked himself as he stared out of the window and onto the field below him. He rested his arm on the glass and then his brow on his forearm so that he had a stable view of the multitude of new followers the Slayers had. _Grandfather is the one who is crazy about baseball, not me. I should be back at the book-binding shop or at the office. I should be anywhere except here._

"There you are. I have been looking all over the place for you Zelgadis dear," a female voice sweetly called out. Slowly, Zelgadis turned around to see exactly the woman he expected. It was his girlfriend Frances Schwartz. She had on a very professional white blouse with a pair of pinstripe slacks and high-heeled shoes that clicked with the tile flooring as she walked. Her medium length auburn hair was brought up in a tight knot at the back of her skull, only a few elegant strands of hair able to escape and fall into her face and rest on her sleek, blue-framed eyeglasses. The oversized handbag slung over her left shoulder was filled to the brim with important papers regarding the baseball team and bookbinding business that Zelgadis almost ran nowadays. She gave the impression of a secretary and a wife at the same time. Without a sound, Zelgadis looked back out the large picture window, keeping his back to his girlfriend.

"Why were you looking for me here?" Zelgadis moaned as he heard Frances's heels click across the floor as she came closer to him. "Isn't the ballpark the last place you would ever look?"

"Of course, because the last place I look is always where I find you," she said with a laugh. "I have some paperwork here from the office. I thought you might get bored at the ball game today."

"Who ever said that I was staying?" Zelgadis replied with such a serious monotone, Frances was almost certain that this was his way of cursing his last living relative to hell. She gently put her hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"Don't be so sour," she said comfortingly. Zelgadis turned his head slightly to look at her with bland eyes. "You should be happy about this. The team is bound to make money and help along the business. Besides, it makes your grandfather happy."

"I want him to be happy, but healthy as well," Zelgadis sighed, moving over to the long executive table and sitting in one of the large swivel chairs placed by it. He casually put up his feet on the tabletop and leaned back comfortably. "The old man went off to Spring Training without my consent, or his doctor's consent for that matter, and he still has a bad cough from something that was down there. His enthusiasm with this team is going to kill him."

"You worry too much," Frances scolded lightly.

"You don't worry enough."

"Excuse me for being the optimistic one here."

Zelgadis just gave a grunting "humph" as a reply as he leaned back in the chair and turned away from Frances's scowl.

_Ever since his grandfather volunteered to take this team on, Zelgadis has been really grouchy_, Frances thought. _All he cares about is keeping his grandfather and the family business from dying. It really sucks, but everything else is second-place in his mind. Even me. _She put her bag down on the table and tried to look into Zelgadis's eyes. Any time she even got close, the chimera went and faced the other direction until finally she decided to sit down right in his lap, taking his moment of surprise to land a quick kiss on his lips.

"What did I say about my personal space when we're in public?" Zelgadis muttered, looking straight up at the ceiling with blush rushing to his face.

"You cannot perceive what personal space is when we're alone," Frances slyly interjected. "Aren't we alone at this very moment?"

"No," he said, looking her right in the eye.

"There is no one else in the room."

"That's different than when we're just lounging around home. Someone could walk in on us."

"Your grandfather could always walk in on us at your place..." Frances began to gently remove the hair that was in Zelgadis's eyes and tried to put it behind his ear. Zelgadis just brushed her hand away and allowed the wiry hair to fall back in place.

"We can hear him coming from miles away. I'm talking about what if someone _else _walks in on us."

"What? It's not like we are doing anything... well... private..." Her eyes began to wander from Zelgadis's face, down lower to the buttons on his shirt that she wanted to undo badly.

"Just get off me."

"Fine, have it your way then," Frances snipped. She stood up hastily, grabbed her large bag and briskly walked towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"I thought we had a date tonight," Zelgadis said casually.

"Something came up," Frances answered in a cold tone as she exited the room. Raising an eyebrow, Zelgadis looked at the empty doorway in partial amusement.

_I give her twenty minutes, then she'll come crying back to me_, he thought as he took the pen that Frances dropped out of her bag and put it in his jacket pocket. _She always does. It's as if I'm some sort of addictive..._

Zelgadis looked out of the window once more to view the panoramic scenery of the ballfield. Sighing with discontent, he could tell that it was going to be a very long day.

**80808080808080808**

"Miss Lina! Won't you come out of there already?" Amelia whispered loudly through the tiny crack in the door. "You have to be in the locker room in twenty minutes!"

"Hold on, will ya?" Lina barked, struggling with her girdle in the dark confines of the broom cupboard. The said clothing article was supposed to be necessary in order to prevent other players from knowing she was a girl by flattening out what little chest she already had. At least, that is what Xellos said it would do. Mostly, it just made it difficult for Lina to breathe, therefore forcing her to learn to adjust to her lack of air while doing things like... playing baseball for instance.

_Oh, I hate this damn thing_, she thought angrily. _When I get my chance, that purple-haired freak is going right through the backstop_. Once Lina finally finished with the daunting task of putting on the girdle, she easily slipped on the rest of her uniform.

"Liam Inverse has arrived!" Lina announced as she burst out of the broom cupboard, making Amelia jump.

"Oh! Miss Lina!" the raven-haired young woman exclaimed once she calmed down. "Please don't do that! You scared me!" She looked over at her best friend, who was grinning devilishly. Lina's flaming red hair was cut off, leaving what was left just long enough to curl slightly and tickle her ears and brow. Her outfit was mainly a soft, creamy color that had an emerald trim and on the back of the shirt, there was her last name and the number 79 in the same brilliant green as the outline of her uniform. A green-and-cream hat adorned her head, clashing horribly with the remainder of her hair. She had her gym bag slung over her shoulder and tossed it into Amelia's arms for safe keeping.

"Well Amelia, how do you like it?" Lina laughed as she spun around in place. "Does it suit me?"

"Of course I like it Miss Lina. It suits you perfectly," Amelia sighed enviously. Then she went a smidgeon to Lina and whispered. "Should I call you 'Mr. Liam' while we're here or does the staff know about...?"

"Hardly anyone knows I'm a girl," Lina whispered back. "Only Old Man Graywords, that creep Metallium and Kurt know besides the two of us."

"So you went throughout every bit of Spring Training without anyone figuring... _it _out?"

"That's right!" Lina smirked, winking slyly. "Not a single one of them realized that I am a female. It was so awesome! I absolutely love it! Men can be such flaming idiots sometimes."

"Mr. Liam!" Amelia snarled.

"What?"

"You have ten minutes."

"Jeezum crowe!" Lina exclaimed, rushing off in the direction of the locker room. "Thanks Amelia! See you after the game! Please watch my stuff for me!"

"Sure thing! Good luck Mis... er... Mr. Liam!" Amelia called down the hall. Lina gave her a quick smile as she turned the corner, making Amelia feel much better about Lina's Major League debut.

**80808080808080808**

"You're late Inverse," someone snickered as Lina ran into the locker room. Luckily, her teammates had all changed into their own uniforms and Lina did not have to go through the embarrassment of seeing any of them change.

"Ah, why don't you can it Polous," Lina snapped back at her verbal assailant. The man Lina yelled at, the starting second baseman Gary Polous, just laughed it off with a short chuckle. He shook his head with an entertained look on his face, for he liked the fact that he got to tease the young rookie every single day.

"Let it go, simply let it go," Kurt reminded Lina as she sat down next to him as he put tar on the handle of his favorite wooden bat. Lina looked over into his laughing hazel eyes and scoffed.

"You try being the smallest member of the team for a few days and see how they'll treat you!" Lina replied, a blush of anger smearing across her face.

Kurt knew what Lina really meant. She wanted to say: "You try being the only female for a while and see what happens!" He knew Lina better. They were virtually inseparable during Spring Training, the rest of the team having cast them off as the "Sandlot Pair". This made them the misfits of the team, even though they were no younger than the majority of the team. Both players had proven their worth and were named the shortstop and center fielder of the starting lineup, yet they still were treated like small children that needed nothing but excessive teasing.

"Hey Liam," the young blond relief pitcher named Daniel White said with a grin, clearly bored and in severe need of entertainment. "Didn't I see you and some girl in the hallway earlier?"

"Huh?" Lina wasn't even listening.

"Did I see you in the hall with a girl earlier? You two were over by a closet if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh, you mean Amelia?" Lina asked.

"Her name's Amelia then..." Daniel said with a smirk. "So how serious are you and this _Amelia_?"

"Like it's any of your business," Lina huffed. She tried to act as masculine as possible, but Daniel just laughed at her stiff reply.

"You sound just like my older sister!" he laughed. Lina hopped up and stood on the wooden bench, grabbing Daniel by the collar.

"Did I ever tell you how I had to brawl my way into this damned ball club?" she snarled. "Funny story actually. It went something like this..." She drew back her clenched fist and aimed right for the bridge of Daniel's nose.

"Don't do it!" Kurt yelled as he dropped his bat and held back Lina's arm, forcing it right into the locker that bared her false name. Lina released her grip on Daniel's uniform and sneered at him as he straightened out the area she had crumpled in her fist.

"I suggest that you calm yourself Mr. Inverse," a familiarly bemused voice said. The team looked over to the entrance to see their manager, Xellos Metallium, dressed in his own cream-and-emerald uniform. He stepped into the main of the room and opened one purple eye to look at Lina. "We don't want you suspended on the first day of the season for misconduct, do we now?"

"No sir," Lina muttered in spite as she relaxed her arm and gave up prospect of injuring Daniel.

"That's good then," Xellos replied with glee. "Now, I have to admit to you guys, every one of you here, needs to be on your toes. We know that our opponents have somewhat of an... unreliable record of sorts. This means that we cannot let our guard down."

"...but they're only the Tigers," noted Aaron Reeds, the absent-minded professor that played first base. "Detroit isn't all that scary."

"That's what you think," Xellos said. "One second everything will be going swimmingly, then someone slips up on accident, or they make a really good play; then what? Nerves get shaken and edges lost... it can happen with any team, even the Tigers."

_Oh boy_, Lina thought as Xellos rambled on. She rested her elbow on her knee so that she could prop up her forehead in a frustrated fashion. _I hope he shuts up before the National Anthem at least...

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

Why Veer Off Into Zelga-Land?: I am eventually going to have to follow about -counts on fingers- three story lines at the least. Just setting the stage for Zel and his whole spiel.

Who In The Nine Hells Is Frances?: My spiffily-there OC of utter shipment-doomage that had about three names before this one. Those who have read _Olympians At Heart _know of my tendency to pair up our favorite ickle chimera with a childhood friend.

Sandlot Pair: This means that the rest of Lina and Kurt's teammates think of them as children. (Children play on sandlot and gravel diamonds a lot of the time.) Of course, this pisses Lina off, but she can't do anything too drastic or she'll blow her cover and the team will find out she's female... which would be bad.

Reader's... OC Senses... Tingling...: Yes, many, many OCs in this fiction, which is expected with the huge epic-sized proportion of the story. Be sure to pay attention to them, please! I don't want anyone confused when I throw out a name randomly.

This Thing Is Jumping Over Time A Whole Lot... What's Up?: Yes. I know that I really should have included the Spring Training, but since I would get frustrated beyond belief (besides the fact that I know virtually nothing about the damn thing), I just decided to throw the idea against a wall and let it die. The idea was amazingly submissive, it was scary.


	5. Opening Day At Jones's Place!

Aaaargh! My younger brother deleted most of the chapter! -chibi Nez chases off chibi brother- He was the one who was supposed to be "helping" me with the facts on this one too! -grumps- Anyways... here is the chapter that has Lina's MLB debut! Oh, so that everyone knows, Gourry might appear some time around Late February/early March by my calculations and if my schedule is kept. -grins- Don't worry, the wait is necessary. Everything shall be fine in the end my trad fans. I do not own the anime _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, Oregon, the Detroit Tigers, any of their athletes, my faithful reviewers, so please do not hurt the Nehszriah. Now... let the baseball jargon begin!

* * *

Go

_Opening Day At Jones's Place! Liam's First Game!_

"...o'er the land of the freeeeeeeeee..." sang the young woman who was standing on the home dugout, cameras focused upon her. It was all Lina had to not cover her ears in disgust. The singer hit such a squeaky, high-pitched note that she probably could have broken Aaron Reed's eyeglasses if the man were standing closer to her.

_Desecration, desecration, you should be shot for desecration of the bloody song you damn bitch! _Lina thought, trying her best to keep a straight face and remain with a solemnly fixated gaze upon the American flag. She hated it when people who sang the "Star Spangled Banner" tried to make the song their own by singing at impossibly high octaves or dragging out the notes for three or four, even ten beats longer than they were supposed to be held. _The goddamn song should not take more than a single minute to sing... I demand that you be tried and hung for treason._

"...and the hooooooome of theeeeeeeeee braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave!" the young woman finally belted out, causing not only Lina's face to screw up, but some of her teammates' faces showed their clear discontent... and a couple hundred of the spectator's actually covered their ears.

_Who in the hell is this bitch? _Lina thought as she and all of the other ball players ran into the dugouts. _Well, it does not matter anymore. All I need to do is wait for Old Man Graywords to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and the game can finally get started._

"Come on you guys!" Xellos yelled at the Slayers once the opening pitch was thrown with much applause and they were all in their dugout. "I want to be able to brag to Leyland later about whooping his team good on the first game of our careers. Now Polous, Fuchs, Inverse, Scott, Reeds, Rook, Takeda, Oisterwijk and White... out there now! Haul ass you pansies!" The team, infuriated by the mere fact that Xellos just called every single one of them "pansies", reluctantly took the field.

"Hey Liam," Kenny Rook, the third baseman, whispered to Lina as they went over to their positions on the field. "Want to go and beat up Metallium with Gary and me after the game?"

"As long as we get Murdoc to come too," Lina laughed, mentioning the massively aggressive Hispanic first baseman still sitting on the bench. "Everyone knows that he'll kill us if he misses a good fight."

Kenny grinned evilly and left Lina at her spot between him and Gary Polous. That was the only thing that kept most of the team from completely loathing Lina: she could beat up their manager and Xellos would not fight back for even one second. It was a satisfying feeling for Lina, knowing that she could bond with her teammates over their mutual hatred for Xellos. A smile slid across her lips as the umpire yelled "Play ball!"

**80808080808080808**

A tall woman with long black hair and a very full chest walked into the pressbox. She puzzled most of the men in the tiered room, for she was the only female in there. After chuckling to herself for just a moment, she took a seat next to a man with an interestingly punkish haircut and the small white dog that was at his feet.

"Óla babe," the man smiled, covering the microphone in front of him. "You're just in time for the first pitch."

"Thanks AirJay," she replied casually, making sure she did not speak loud enough for the microphone in front of her to pick up her voice.

"Now then," AirJay said into the microphone in an animated fashion. "Hello folks and welcome to the first game of the 2006 MLB season for these two teams: the brand new Portland Slayers and the visiting Detroit Tigers. My name is AirJay Andrades and here with me is my lovely co-anchor Naga the Serpent, broadcasting live from Jones Soda Stadium for FSN Northwest."

"It looks as if we are going to have an interesting game today," Naga added. "The Slayers, being a brand new team, really want to prove themselves to be able to compete in the big leagues. Detroit is just searching for a formidable opponent and to find themselves as a team that could hopefully reach the World Series and win another title, which would be their first since the 1984 season."

"Ah, speaking of teams, it looks like the starting defense for Portland is taking the field," AirJay said as he noticed Xellos shooing his athletes out of the dugout. "Here is the starting positions: Aaron Reeds at first, Gary Polous on second, Liam Inverse at shortstop, Kenny Rook at third, in the outfield from left to right is Sam Vilsis, Kurt Fuchs and Jan Oisterwijk. The catcher is Takashi Takeda and the starting pitcher is Will Scott."

"...now it looks like lead-off hitter for Detroit is headed up to the plate..." Naga started, right before being rudely interrupted.

"Up at the plate, _Placido Planco_!" AirJay said, using a heavy accent and lengthening the "do" and "co" in the batter's name by quite a bit. Naga sighed and rested her forehead on her palm.

"This is going to be one long game," she muttered.

"Auu, rufuf," agreed the little white dog known as Kiko. Naga looked beneath the table and saw that Kiko had on his face a look of understanding.

_At least someone else knows what this palhaço is capable of_, she moaned internally as AirJay did some sort of stance. Whether the stance was heroic or not, none could really tell, not even AirJay himself.

**80808080808080808**

Lina tensed herself up for the inning ahead of her. This was it: her Major League debut. Well, it was Liam's debut anyways. She looked over at Will Scott as he pitched a perfect strike. It was amazing at how everything worked. Spring Training was only the very tip of the iceberg that was the Major Leagues.

_I can't mess up_, she thought to herself as a ground ball was shuttled to second base. Gary easily caught it and sent the ball over to Aaron, who almost dropped the ball once he caught it. He held his grip though, making sure the batter was out. _I can not slip up. Amelia's watching me, Sander, Martin and their parents are watching me... counting on me..._

Suddenly, the baseball screamed in the direction of Lina. She had barely a split second to react. A diving catch caught the ball.

_Got to get it to Aaron_, Lina told herself as her body was still falling towards the ground. She twisted her body in the air, finally tossing it in the direction of first base just before her side collided with the dirt. Aaron caught the ball as it bounced towards him, tagging the batter out.

_Two down, one to go_, he thought. _Great play Liam_.

Lina grinned broadly as she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her front. Her name was being announced on the speaker system for her effort in accumulating the out. The crowd cheered. Lina Inverse found her place in the universe.

**80808080808080808**

It was the middle of the third inning and Lina was getting ready to take her spot at home plate as the lead-off runner for the inning. In reality, she was seventh in the batting lineup for Portland, but since Kurt was able to get on base last inning, she had to take the responsibility of being the first at-bat. After a few warm-up swings, Lina meandered over to the plate where the umpire Sunny and the Detroit catcher, Ivan Rodriguez, already were situated.

"I want a good game Rookie," Sunny said with authority as Lina squared her shoulder with the plate. "Good luck." Lina looked over at the female umpire and grinned.

_Of course I'll play a good game. Also, I don't need your damned luck_, she thought, turning her vision over to Jeremy Bonderman on the pitcher's mound. The young man on the mound drew back his arm and...

_Pfft_, went the sound of the ball on the oiled leather of Rodriguez's mitt as Lina's bat completely missed the ball. She forgot to check her swing, therefore earning her a strike.

_Ah, damn it! Lina, you retard_, Kurt thought from the bench. _Don't choke up! Slam it out of the park!_

"Strike two!" Sunny yelled as Lina's bat connected with just air yet again. Lina's face went red as the ball was thrown back to Bonderman. Every muscle in her small body tensed up in anticipation of what she knew was coming.

_The wind up..._ Lina thought as she studied every move her opponent made. _The pitch..._

_CRRRRACK_!

Wooden bat connected with ball, sending the small white projectile deep into center field, alerting Curtis Granderson of its presence. After freezing in disbelief for a moment, Lina desperately rushed over to first base. Passing up the red-headed first baseman, she went over to second. He looked towards the back wall as she ran. Granderson jumped up and made an effort to catch the precious ball.

It passed his glove right by.

Lina jumped up as she touched second base. The crowd in the stands cheered as she jogged to third and then home plate. Her teammates congratulated her as she went back into the dugout. She had just scored the first home run for the game, for Portland, for her career... all within her first at-bat.

"That was absolutely amazing!" Kurt said as Lina sat down next to him. He gave her a brotherly shove, having her knock elbows with Murdoc, who gave her a rather sullen look. "I was almost afraid that you would strike out there."

"Me? Strike out?" Lina laughed. "What ever gave you that idea?" She smiled from ear to ear, not really knowing if she would ever stop smiling.

**80808080808080808**

"Mr. Liam! You were awesome out there!" Amelia squealed as Lina walked towards her in the hallway by the locker room and players' entrance. "It was so cool! I could barely believe it was really you!"

"Thanks for the encouragement Amelia," Lina moaned. The game had taken a toll on her. Never had she have to work so hard playing baseball. The whole new level of play made her strive and excel during the game, but now that the adrenaline was quickly fading, so was her energy.

"Mr. Liam!" Amelia cried happily, happy for her friend. She ran the five feet that was left between her and Lina and gave her a humongous tackling bear hug that sent both girls to the ground.

"Ugh... Amelia, please get off me..." Lina groaned. Amelia happily obliged and even helped Lina up.

"You look terrible Mr. Liam, are you feeling alright?"

"Of course. I just have to get used to this level," Lina said through a weak smile. She took her gym bag from Amelia and headed into the nearest broom cupboard. Within minutes she emerged, wearing her regular clothes and a wig made out of hair exactly the same color as her own that went down to just past her shoulders.

"Are you sure it is safe to wear that here?" Amelia asked as she and Lina began to walk down the abandoned hallway.

"Of course it is! The guys won't be done changing for another half an hour at the least and the coaches are all too busy with Metallium to be here for another few hours. At least that damned mazoku freak is good for something..."

"Mazoku?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, apparently, it's an inside joke between him and the guys. They make up all sorts of humiliating names for the man. Takashi says that he has heard Metallium's girlfriend call him 'raw garbage' in Japanese! Me, I personally like the terms 'mazoku', 'pricker' and 'wanker'..."

"You should not talk so badly about your manager!" Amelia said defensively. "He could have you sit on the bench for the entire game tomorrow!"

"Why would I be sitting on the bench tomorrow...?"

"Your next game! The last time I checked, a series in baseball always has three games, right?"

"I guess so!" Lina said with a laugh, shaking her head in disbelief that she was so absent-minded. "Hey, I'm famished. Do you want to get something to eat?"

"As long as you pay your own way Miss Lina," Amelia sighed, remembering how expensive it was the last time Lina tricked her into buying dinner. She ran after her friend, praying to the Lord that she would not have to go through the embarrassment of an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.

* * *

**Things To Know**

The National Anthem: I hate people who sing the Star Spangled Banner and absolutely kill it. I could namedrop, but I think I'd get in trouble. The anthem should just be sung in one format, not in seventy-billion different keys and harmonies and styles and... oh what the Hells, I just hate that song because of people who try to make it their own. -grump-

Sunny, AirJay and Kiko: I do not own my ever-faithful reviewers. That would be silly and mean if I did.

AirJay/Naga: Possibly the best OC shipment ever... and also property of Gerao-A.

The Detroit Tigers: This is the team as of December 17th 2005. If there are any really, really big changes in their lineup/staff, I will be correcting such changes in my story and warning everyone about it. -sighs- It is just so hard working with something so large-scale that changes so much. Those are actual members of the ball club, by the way. I want to be as authentic as possible. Their real opening game is April 3rd at Kansas City.

Palhaço: Portuguese for "clown".

The Winter Olympics Are Coming: Yes! The Turin (Torino) Games are nearly here! Saturday people! On Saturday, everything will come together and the Nehszriah shall have her Olympics and come the end of March, I might be able to shut up about all that's gonna happen 'cause I'm driving me family and friends nutters! I've been going on since about mid-June of last year when I first laid out _Olympians At Heart _and my obsession took off and I should probably shut up now so people can review. **DUTCH SKATERS RÖK! THEY RÖK ME SÖKS! **-finally snaps and cackles-


	6. Unlikely Pasts Collide!

Jeezum crowe! The Olympics! Argh! Why are they not here yet! -cries- I want the Olympics! My sources say that they should have started already and of course, I have heard absolutely nothing about any sporting event other than the... _Super Bowl_. Steelers won. Whoopdie freakin' do. Shut up Detroit. Erm... enough of me being irritable. Now for a chapter I am both proud of and ashamed of. This might tick off some readers with the one-sided bias of the emotions in the writing, but remember, the Nehszriah is trying to convey old and skewed feelings. Having biased wording seriously helps. I do not own _Slayers_, Portland, Detroit or abusive older sisters. Nor am I an abusive older sister. That would just be wrong; plain and simple. I love me little brothers, no matter how much they tick me off. -hugs brothers and nearly crush their spines-

* * *

Roku

_Unlikely Pasts Collide! The Memories of Bloody Mary Revealed!_

"So then, we're traveling together, huh?" Kurt asked as he looked from his plane ticket over towards Lina's. He examined both carefully, seeing that they had the exact same flight, with seats directly next to one another.

"Well, I don't mind that much," Lina scoffed as she shifted the large duffel bag on her shoulder uncomfortably. "It does not look like any of our teammates got the same plane as us. That's at least good." She did not want to have to deal with anyone else from the team during a flight to Detroit for another three games against them, considering that six games against Detroit in a week was torture enough as it was. Standing in the domestic flight terminal at Portland International on the spring evening, Lina and Kurt looked around to see if they could spot any of their baseball comrades. To their utter relief, they found none.

"Flight 265 to Detroit is going to leave in ten minutes," a metallic female voice on the speaker system warned. "Flight 265 to Detroit is leaving in ten minutes..."

"Shit! That's our flight!" Kurt swore. He took Lina by the forearm and started running off towards their flight. He ran with such a fury that Lina nearly lost grip of her wig that kept her identity the secret it was. They were lucky though, for they just barely made the plane before the last call was announced.

"That was close," Lina chuckled right after the airplane took off and the list of safety drills was run. The airplane was not very full, there being only about ten or so other people in the entire section, none of whom sat anywhere near the two teammates. Knowing this, Kurt freely laughed at Lina from his window seat.

"Sure was. Did you know that I have never traveled by airplane before?"

"Neither have I."

"Kind of funny about how much in common we have," Kurt mused as he looked out of the window, smiling down upon the suburban world they were flying over.

"Yeah. Local talent, rookies, same age, generally feared by our opponents..."

"We played on the same fields and played the same kids..."

"Huh?" Lina interjected, snapping her head in the direction of Kurt. He was still looking out the window, a glazed expression in his eyes. "What do you mean that we played on the same fields and against the same kids?"

"Don't you remember?" Kurt asked, coming out of his nirvana-like trance. "We played in the same Little League when we were kids. Different teams of course, but we went up against one another a few times..."

"I do not remember that," Lina said nervously. "Exactly how long ago was this?"

"Oh, I think about eleven years or so. You hit my best friend in the face with a ball after he started name calling. He needed to go to the hospital..."

"Then that was twelve years ago," Lina said quietly, turning her blushing face away from Kurt. A flood of memories came back from that day when she was almost kicked out of the league for injuring the opposing pitcher due to her unusually good aim with a bat. "What happened to him?"

"Oh, he's fine," Kurt said. Lina looked over at him to find that he was... smiling.

_This is just a tad bit weird_, Lina thought to herself. _Why would he bring this up? _She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, wanting to change the subject.

"S-S-S-So apparently we played in the same Little League," Lina stuttered. "From your perspective... what was it like?"

"Playing against you Lina?"

"Sure... why not...?"

"Everyone of us wanted to wet ourselves after you bashed Alec's face in," Kurt said with a pleasant smile. "Now that we are older and pretenses are gone, you don't seem all that frightening anymore. Maybe it is because we are sort of stuck together on the team and all that jazz."

"I was really scary?" Lina asked softly. Kurt let out a deep laugh.

"Of course you were! Remember when I made up your new moniker?"

"Yeah..." Lina said, thinking back to the day she signed with the Slayers. Looking upon the day now, it was Kurt who suggested that Lina be known as Liam instead and fool the League. "Why did you do that?"

"Well, I was a bit shocked at first when you showed us that you were Bloody Mary, but then an idea hit me. Since you were so intimidating as a kid, I figured you still had not lost that fierceness you possessed and due to the nature of your fight with the Mazoku Bastard, you proved my theory right. Now it is going to be the opposing professionals that will want to run home to their mothers, not me."

"Makes sense. Using me as a weapon of mass fear and chaos amongst the Majors. I get it," Lina said in a epiphanic voice. She looked at Kurt with bright eyes. "This means that you think I'll strike fear within the hearts of our opponents?"

"The Detroit Tigers fear us at least," Kurt smiled. "They hate the fact that we have to play fifteen more games against them this season. That series sweep we had the last three games was quite embarrassing to them. Jim Leyland is fuming the last time I heard."

"That's awesome," Lina chuckled.

"Then again," Kurt added with a smirk, "it is just the Tigers after all."

Lethargically, Lina stretched and yawned deeply while trying to suppress a giggle. "I'm going to get some sleep. I'll need it since we are going to be a few hours off schedule."

"Fine then. I'll l..." was all Lina heard Kurt say before she fell asleep. Lucky that there was no one sitting behind her, Lina leaned back in the chair and relaxed, drifting effortlessly into sleep.

**80808080808080808**

_Lina looked around the empty gravel ballfield, searching for someone else that could play with her. To her dismay, there was only the birds and squirrels over by the grove of trees at the very edge of the field. Despite it being a cool morning in early summer, not a single other kid was there._

"_Damn it!" Lina cursed. She took her bat bag over to where home plate was and brushed the grey stones from the white rubber pentagon. "Just brushing me off since I am a girl, huh? I'm gonna show them!"_

_With tears resting in the corners of her eyes, Lina picked an aluminum bat and a baseball out of her bag. She tossed the ball high in the air and then quickly prepped herself for its return to her. After a second, she swung the bat hard, a metallic clink resounding throughout the air. The white ball flew far into the outfield, scaring off the small animals over by the trees._

'_To Hell with John,' thought Lina as she ran after the ball, remembering the classmates that promised to meet her there. 'To Hell with Billy and Robbie and Jim-Jim and Ricky and Junior and Stevie and to hell all the rest of them!' She forcefully threw the ball back over to the metal backstop cage and ran the diamond's length once more. Becoming tired, Lina sat down on home plate to catch her breath._

"_Hey you, get off our field!" Lina heard some kid snap at her. She looked up to see a group of about ten boys all around her age._

"_Can I play with you?" she asked eagerly, eyes going as wide as saucers._

"_No way!" the boys' leader said. "We don't want to play girly-ball."_

"_I don't play girly-ball! I play baseball!" Lina yelled. Her face turned red as the leader just laughed at her._

"_Boys play baseball. Girly-girls play your girly-softball. Go away!"_

"_I want to play baseball!" Lina cried, the tears now streaming down her face. On impulse, she lunged at the small gathering of boys, fist curled and ready to land a good sucker-punch on their ringleader. She did, and even knocked him to the ground. Before the other boys could drag her off, she had given the boy a black eye, bloody nose and his cheek began to immediately swell up._

"_What are you?" the bloodied boy spat. His eyes were wide with terror, deep fear for Lina growing at the core of his soul._

"_I think I've heard of things like her!" one of the other boys shouted. "I think they're called a 'Bloody Mary'! They beat you up and make your face all bloody!"_

"_You idiot, my mom drinks those. It's a mixed drink..."_

"_What's a mixed drink?"_

"_I dunno."_

"_Maybe it is Coca-Cola and Pepsi combined! My older brother says that such a thing should never happen, or the universe will explode!"_

"_Why can't I play with you guys?" Lina yelled, starting to struggle against another breaking point. "Give me a good reason!"_

"_...because you are a girl! Girls can't play boy sports! Go home and play with your dolls or bake cookies with your mom!"_

"_I can't!"_

"_Yes you can!"_

"_I have no mom!"_

_The boy went silent as he wiped the blood from above his lip, staring all the while at Lina. He could see this girl, dressed in boy's clothes and being just as grubby-looking as he was, starting to break down at the seams. He did not know that was actually what was happening, for all he saw was her standing there silently. Her glare was like that of a ruby-eyed hawk: piercing, making you feel shivers all up and down your spine and through the core of your very bones._

"_I have no mother..." Lina said, the anger in her voice resonating in an almost possessed fashion. "Don't you dare talk about my mother!" Lina picked up the aluminum bat that was besides her feet and raised it high in the air. She took careful aim at the boy still cowering from when she tackled him to the ground._

_Yet when she brought down her swing, there was no bat. She looked behind her to see the shadowed figure of someone familiar, their identity being blocked out by the blinding rays of the rising sun. Looking around like a frightened rabbit, Lina discovered that none of the boys were there anymore. The figure moved position, so that she could now see their identity clearly._

"_Lun-n-na-a?" Lina stammered. She looked up at her older sister by three years, the bangs covering the elder's eyes so that Lina could see no expression._

"_What have I told you about beating up other kids?"_

"_...I ...erm..."_

"_I know they are jerks, but you are being no better!"_

"_...but they..."_

"_You could have hurt someone. They would hurt so bad that they would have to be buried, just like Mother._

"_J-J-Just like...?"_

_Red streaked Lina's vision as she crumpled to the ground. The spots in her arm and back where the bat connected with the girl throbbed as she tried to nurse the agony. Tears overflowed from her face and moistened the gravel dust beneath her face._

"_I hope you are having a very happy birthday little sister," Luna said with a sneer. "How does it feel to finally be eight... years... old...?"_

'_Damn it Luna,' Lina thought, barely unaware of anything besides the sheer pain and rage that coursed through her. She lay there, crying, hearing her name being called from somewhere far off. The voice got louder, more familiar by the second._

"_Ku..._rt...?"

"**Lina! Wake up!**"

Lina sat up straight in her seat, breathing heavily and staring him straight in the eyes. He looked very pale, as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Are you alright Miss?" a sweet voice came from behind her. Lina looked over her shoulder to see a very nervous stewardess.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Lina said in a low voice. The stewardess looked strangely at Lina as she walked away.

"What in the hell were you dreaming about?" Kurt hissed in Lina's ear.

"Let me just say that my family's relationships are not the best things in the world," she sighed.

"They must be the worst ever. You were moaning curse words and tossing and turning and I tried to wake you up the whole time but you wouldn't come to! The stewardess was about to tell the pilot to make an emergency stop in Denver for you right before you finally did wake up!"

"I'm sorry," Lina said, the memories from her childhood still flashing before her. She shuddered and snuggled into her reclining seat.

"I'm just glad there is no one else sitting by us," Kurt said thankfully. "You were making quite the scene."

"It was the day she hit me with a bat..."

"What...?" Kurt asked, trying to look into Lina's downcast eyes. "Who hit you with a bat?"

"My sister."

"I'm sure it was just an accide..."

"It was on purpose," Lina curtly interjected, not even letting Kurt finish. "She hit me with my bat after I beat up a boy with my fists. I was about to hit him with the bat myself, but instead she almost broke my rib cage and back. The bat was metal. I was eight."

Kurt was barely sure he could take in what Lina was saying. She was curled up in the chair next to him, shaking badly as if the room's temperature was sub-zero.

"If it will make you feel any better, I think of you like a sister... a sister that I would never wish anything bad upon."

"I almost killed your best friend with a baseball..."

"He's happy you did that," Kurt reassured. "If you did not do that, Alec would have never had to sit out of baseball for as long as he did and get into reading books. He's now going to school to become a professional historian and librarian for the state... and loving every second of it! We owe you more than anything else!"

The pair were silent for a short while, Kurt irritated with Lina's nightmare and Lina crying bucket of tears on the inside. She did not dare shed a tear for real in fear of disrupting her natural character. Then again, being curled up like a scared little girl was not in her nature either. She sat up and shook her head in a short burst so that she could at least attempt to shake out all of the bad memories.

"I always wanted a brother," Lina smiled at Kurt, making both parties feel much better. "Now I have someone to give noogies!" She playfully put Kurt in a headlock and rubbed her fist into the top of his skull.

"Ow! That hurt!" Kurt laughed as he wriggled free from Lina's grip.

_She's smiling again_, he thought. _Good. I promise Lina, I will always be there for you as a real sibling would, no matter what happens.

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

Will Nehszriah Ever Leave Detroit Alone?: Unless they get some brains real quick... not likely.

Why Did Kurt Flat-Out Forgive Lina?: I know he was scared of her and he was fairly mad at her for hurting his friend, but it all ended up for the better. Because of this ironic turn of events, his friend found his bright-future/calling-in-life and if it were not for his pea-sized common sense as a child... he might be dead from a drug overdose or making minimum wage flipping burgers in a grease-pot restaurant (Nothing against those restaurants of course).

Chibi Lina has a Dirty Mouth: Yes, there are cases where small children in America develop horrible language. I made Lina such a case. As well as my youngest brother. I think he's the only one in his kindergarten class that can control the usage of curse words.

Girly-Softball: Yes, now I am exaggerating. It is true that I refuse to play softball, but I by no means think of it as "girly-ball". I think of it as "settling". Besides, the boys are _supposed _to be idiotically mean. They are part of the driving force behind Lina's stubborn determination to get into the MLB. All girls who play sports have most likely had this happen to them sometime in their lives. There is now a law in America that says that prohibiting someone from playing sports due to their gender is illegal. I want to see a boy play volleyball for my high school before I actually think of it as being a fair law. There I go, saying things I shouldn't... again...

The Squirrely Ignorance of Lina's Tormentors: They're what... eight years old? I work on a weekly basis with ten-year-olds that I knew as eight-year-olds. Kids that age say these kinds of things.

Über Violent Luna: Lina's supposed to be afraid of her, right? I wanted a really good reason for Lina to fear her sister. Making Luna a gut-wrenching breed of cruel seemed to be better than having say... Amelia or the Farquain boys come in and drag Lina off the idiots. It sort of fits that Lina and Kurt adopt each other as siblings though, being that is pretty much what they are becoming and Lina's relationship with her sister is not really what she would like it to be. What does everyone think about it? This does mean that Kurt's role in the fiction is going to increase. Banzai!


	7. Why Can I See My Breath?

So here is a current visual of the Nehszriah: a brown haired, skinny, pale-skinned, androgynous-seeming lump sitting in front of either a television set... drooling over the Turin Games (that have finally come! -squee-) or sitting in front of a computer typing fanfiction like the mad creature that I am whilst various animeand _Slayers _soundtracks play in the background. This visual is pretty much how I decided that I have a pathetic speck for a life. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Detroit, Portland or slithy toves. -geek banner waves in background-

**Story Update**: When the preseason "Spring Training" is brought up, _disregard it fully_. There is going to be no Spring Training this year. Instead there is going to be the World Baseball Classic. Andreu Jones! Go Jones! Go Netherlands! -dances-

* * *

Shichi

_Only In Detroit! Why Can I See My Breath?_

"_It is how cold?_" Lina heard Amelia screech on the other side of the cell phone connection. The earpiece volume on the device was so loud that Lina had to hold it a few inches from her ear so that Amelia's outbursts did not kill off her hearing.

"Nineteen degrees," she repeated right before a preptory wince.

"_Please tell me that is Celsius you are talking about..._"

"Are you sitting down?"

"_Yes_..."

"Fahrenheit."

"_WHAT! Are you seriously going to play baseball in that weather?_"

"Of course I am," Lina shivered as she stood outside the players' entrance to Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. "It would not make for any show if we cancelled because of a little bit of chilly weather..."

"_A little bit of chilly weather! My kitchen freezer isn't even that low! I bet there won't be any spectators to watch you play!_"

"There are," Lina sighed, looking over towards where there was actually a fairly sizeable line to get into the ballpark. "There are quite a few people nutters enough. I see a bunch of Red Wings apparel, so these creatures might be used to the cold of ice hockey."

"_Is there snow on the ground?_" Amelia asked. Lina looked down at her feet to the puddle of oily-grey snow she was standing in.

"I wouldn't call it snow per se. More like... okay, I don't know what to call it. Amelia, this city is nothing like Nowhere and it freaks me out!"

"_Well, it is a really big city Miss Lina_," Amelia said.

"The manhole covers are steaming, people are panhandling in front of the park and on the news this morning, I heard about five different gun shootings..."

"_Isn't Mr. Kurt with you?_"

"Not right now..."

"_If you are so afraid, then stick with Mr. Kurt_," Amelia said frankly. "_You just think of Detroit as scary because you have never really been that far away from home before. The whole experience is probably making you more aware_."

"I hope that's just it," Lina shivered, her teeth starting to click together. "Listen, I see Kurt now. I have to go."

"_Talk to me after the game_," Amelia demanded.

"Of course. If I didn't have to report back to my keeper after every single freakin' thing I did, I would most likely die."

"_Now that's the spirit!_" Lina heard Amelia say right before she flipped the cell phone shut. She put the device in her pocket just as Kurt jogged up to her, his big duffel bag slung over his shoulder awkwardly.

"Let me guess... that was Miss Amelia on the phone?"

"Of course," Lina sighed. She looked over at Kurt and noticed that his ears and face were nipped red and his lips seemed to have a slightly blueish tint to them.

"Where have you been?" she asked, examining her brotherly friend through a cloud of their own visible breath.

"I ran here from the waterfront," Kurt explained. "It really helps to train in extremes you know."

"You idiot. Let's get you inside and warmed up before the 'extreme' stupidity of your brain causes you to turn into an icicle," Lina moaned as dragged Kurt down into the depths of the visitor's locker room area. It was heated, to Lina and Kurt's pleasure, and there was no one else there. Under the circumstances, the locker room was in perfect condition for Lina to transform into Liam.

"Do you think we are still going to play today?" Kurt asked as he stood guard outside the bathroom stall Lina was changing in.

"I should think so," Lina replied. "The home team should at least be used to this kind of whacked-out weather. The fans seem fairly used to it too."

"Those people are just off their rockers."

"You said it. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a polar bear or two in the stands."

Kurt laughed as Lina exited the bathroom stall dressed in her uniform. They flashed each other smiles that simply screamed that they were having fun making jokes about the native baseball fans of Metro Detroit. Going back into the main of the locker room, they were taken by surprise by a certain purple-haired manager of theirs as he stood there in all of his eccentric glory.

"Ready to play today boys?" Xellos said, taking a very large and fluffy pair of purple earmuffs from his pocket and putting them on, not quite covering up all of his ears. Lina and Kurt restrained themselves from falling into a laughing fit.

"Yes," Kurt snickered. "Isn't it a bit cold out though?"

"Of course not!" Xellos said haughtily. "You two do have long-sleeved shirts for under your uniform, as I can tell Inverse has already discovered." Kurt looked over at the tight, spandex-like green material that covered Lina's arm all the way up to her wrist.

"...but it is below freezing!"

"I do not care about that now Inverse," Xellos replied. "You two kids had better dress warmly if you don't want to freeze out there." With that, he walked off and left Kurt and Lina alone.

"Was he really necessary?" Lina asked as she sat down on one of the wooden benches.

"Maybe... but my money's on that he wasn't," Kurt said as he started digging into his own bag. As he pulled out his uniform, Lina turned away so that she did not witness Kurt dressing.

"I told Amelia how cold it is," she said while she still had her back to Kurt.

"How did she react?" he asked, pulling on his creamy uniform shirt over the long emerald undershirt.

"I think she fell to the floor," Lina laughed. "She even asked if I was using Celsius or Fahrenheit."

"That's not good," Kurt snickered. He nudged Lina with his stocking foot to signal that things were safe to view again and so she turned around to find him lacing up a cleat as he rested his foot on the bench.

"She really did want to come with us," Lina said softly, remembering how hard it was to tell her best friend that she could not come.

"That sounds like Miss Amelia alright," Kurt observed. "She seems like the kind of person who would demand to come along. I am glad you introduced the two of us back in Portland." In his mind, he recalled the time between Spring Training and the Season Opener when he went over to Lina's new Portland apartment and met Amelia. From the very start they enjoyed each other's company and got along splendidly. Lina liked that her friends got along because they could easily help her masquerade as a man in the Major Leagues, no bickering between them or anything.

"Yeah, well, Amelia's most likely not the best person to have around while we travel. It's bad enough that Daniel thinks she is my girlfriend."

"Right. Almost forgot that part."

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite two rookies," said a voice suddenly, making Lina and Kurt jump. They looked over to the locker room door to find Daniel White standing there, a smug grin plastered on his face. "...and what brings the two of you here so early, hmm?"

"What brings you here so early?" Lina snapped. Daniel shut up, not really sure about how to counter her. He went off to the opposite end of the locker room and began to get ready for the game.

"Heh, so I guess it is true that if you speak the Devil's name that he comes," Kurt chuckled as a few more of their teammates came into the locker room, not really wanting to be there at all. Lina joined him in laughter and just hoped that the game was going to be called off due to the cold.

**80808080808080808**

"The clouds don't look all that swell," Aaron Reeds noted as he looked up at the sky from the dugout. It was the top of the first inning; Takashi was up at bat and Aaron was just getting ready to go into the warm-up circle for a little bit of practice swinging.

"If it wasn't so cold, I would say that it was going to rain," Kurt added. A ripple of frigid wind played with his hair and blew some of it into his face.

"Why is it so cold?" Lina whined. She was huddled up on the bench, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth in an effort to keep warm.

"It is just a different climate than you are used to, that's all," said outfielder Jan Oisterwijk, chuckling with delight. "I come from Curaçao. Think of how much of a shock this country's weather was to me when I first arrived. You at least are from Oregon, where there is such a thing as a cold winter to begin with." His bronze skin and vocal accent proved his point, convincing Lina that he was telling the truth.

"Does this mean that you are immune to the cold or something?" she snapped harshly, noticing how Jan seemed quite relaxed and comfortable.

"Nope. I'm so cold, my balls might fall off."

_Lovely_, Lina sardonically thought as her eye started to twitch. _If he knew I were female, he would not have put it that way._

"I agree! It's colder than a well digger's ass out here!" Kenny Rook piped in as Aaron walked up the stairs to go and take his place in the batter's box, Takashi having got on first base. "Playing like this must be some sort of cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Shut up and pay attention to the game!" Xellos ordered, right before starting to recite Lewis Carroll's poem _Jabberwocky_. Kurt laughed and nudged Lina in the side.

"I say we wail on him for being such a prick and wearing those damned earmuffs. "What do you say?"

"Good idea," Lina smirked. "Maybe a little beating will warm me up." She and Kurt stood up and were just about to creep up on Xellos when the worst thing that could have happened, happened.

The wind blew... and brought a burst of snow with it.

"What the hell?" everyone seemed to shout in unison. The Tiger's pitcher even balked in mid-pitch at the blast of cold air that surrounded him. The wind did not die down though, the cold, blustery weather continuing at full force.

"To freakin' hell with it all! Get into the dugouts you guys," the umpire yelled at the freezing cold athletes. To their delight, everyone scurried into the warmth of the underground dugouts where they all warmed up, grateful for the umpire and his disdain of the snow.

"'_Twas brillig, and the slithy toves_,_ did gyre and gimble in the wabe_," Xellos recited in delight as he watched his team rush into the dugout. He continued the poem as he went and walked through the members of the team in the locker room main. "_All mimsy were the borogroves, and the mome rath outgrabe._"

"Damn, what a creep," Kurt muttered out loud, just loud enough for Lina to hear him.

"You've got that right," she replied with a grin as she took her uniform shirt off to replace it with a sweater, thankful for the protective spandex and flattening girdle she wore.

_What a story this will be for Amelia_, she thought privately. _She'll get a kick out of it for sure_.

**80808080808080808**

"Did you just say that you are snowed out?" Amelia yelled into the telephone. She nearly dropped her mug filled with tea when she heard what Lina said.

"_Yeah, you heard me say that alright_," Lina sighed on the other end of the line. "_The wind won't stop blowing and there's a whole bunch of snow that it's bringing along with it. I think since we called off the game an hour ago there has been about a half a foot of snow. There is talk about calling off, even cancelling the entire series._"

"That's just plain freaky," Amelia said in an awed voice. She sat down at the table in the homey kitchen of her father's house and took an oatmeal raisin cookie from the plate in the center. "I don't think I have ever heard of a baseball game being snowed out before."

"_Yeah, well, it has happened here in the past, so the whole thing was taken alright by the fans. They did seem a bit... disappointed though that the game was called off. I know I'm actually jumping for joy._"

"Really?"

"_No. I'm kind of in the locker room right now. Wanker's giving us all a lecture about something or other..._"

"Do not use me as an excuse to not listen to the manager!" Amelia shouted after quickly forcing down an unusually large bite of cookie. "...and stop calling him a wanker! He might hear you for heaven's sake!"

"_Jeezum crowe Amelia, chill out_," Lina said defensively. "_I'll let you go now if it would make you feel better_."

"Really? Well, I was about to hang up on you."

"_I knew it." _There was a short chuckle and the sound of voices in the background. _"I'll talk to you when I get home then_."

"Good-bye."

"_Good-bye_."

The line went dead as Lina hung up her cell phone, leaving Amelia with not a soul to talk to. Amelia then slowly got up, untangled herself from the telephone cord as she hung the receiver up on the wall and sat back down at the kitchen table with a sigh.

_Miss Lina_, Amelia thought as she sipped her tea, _I don't think I will ever get why you are you. I should have come to Detroit too. I will make sure that you stay in line from now on though, whether you like it or not._

Taking another oatmeal raisin cookie and a large sip of tea, Amelia grinned wider than even the Cheshire cat.

* * *

**Things To Know**

The Coldness: Yes, temperature gets to be that friggin' cold over here. In the summer, we'll reach over 100E, but then in the winter... things get to the single digits. This, of course, is all Fahrenheit system, so that would be what... 23 to 0-ish degrees in Celsius... That's a pretty broad range. Ah, I love Michigan weather. -sarcastic laugh- Lately, the weather has been a bit screwier than usual. Go figure. Most of January was in the 40s and 50s, while right now there is snow on the ground. At least it is not raining while it's sunny out... again.

Red Wings: For those of you out there who might not know... it is the professional ice hockey team here in Detroit. -huggles Legace jersey- They're on Olympic Break right now. -grins- Olympics.

Curaçao: That's a Dutch-owned island in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

Snowed-Out Game: Last season, there was at least one snowed out game for the Tigers. It was supposed to be my brother Zanbato's birthday present, going to the game. When he came back home, frozen stiff, without seeing a baseball game and depressed, I gave him a "_This Kind of Thing Happens Only In Detroit_" speech. Most of those speeches involve the weather being shitty, but that is how I got part of the chapter title.

_Jabberwocky _and the Cheshire Cat: Both inventions of Lewis Carroll... one awesomely cracked-out guy. Nehszriah's guess is that he was similar to Poe... in that he needed to be high or drunk or depressed or something like that to write really well. If I am wrong, do tell me so that I get my facts straight. I admire those authors' works too much to allow myself to make a mistake.

Nehszriah Just Realized Something: -looks at reviews and laughs nervously- Heh. Lina, Kurt and Amelia are all the same age as Ivan Inverse. -prod- That was an accident, I swear. -sweatdrop-


	8. Three's Company!

**FINALLY THE NEHSZRIAH HAS WINTER BREAK!** -squee- Now I get to watch more Olympics and write more fanfiction and sleep and just become a zombie. No school, no homework gremlins trying to kidnap me and drag me off to the Kremlin (gremlin from the Kremlin... get it...? History class is getting to me brain...), no teachers telling me when to be awake or when and when not to write fanfiction or be on the Slayers forum... all I need to do is get past my... -dramatic music and lighting- ...mother and the chores of doomage. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, Detroit, Arizona or the ever-pissed-off-and-sexy-at-the-same-time chimera of ours since I just have no hope whatsoever. Also, I was just informed by my brother (who is supposed to be the one making sure I stay accurate -growl-) that there is Spring Training for some of the baseball players this Spring. Curses.

* * *

Hachi

_Three's Company! A Transition of Power?_

It had been three weeks since the snowy incident in Detroit and things were going along fine for the Slayer's first season as a ball club. They had already faced some miscellaneous teams besides Detroit and had a fairly decent record going for them. As they headed into a road-trip stretch that would not let them come home until the middle of May, they were 12-9, a nice start for a fledgling team in any sport.

"Ah... this is more like it," Lina said gratefully as she stretched out the miles from her airplane flight. "Nice sunny Arizona. Nothing like Portland or Detroit, huh Kurt?"

"Nothing at all," Kurt agreed as he slung the backpack he brought onboard the airplane over his shoulder and looked out of the terminal window at the clear azure sky. "At least we won't get snowed on again."

"That for sure!" Lina replied as she almost skipped off to find her suitcase at the baggage claim. She was quite chipper at that moment and barely realized how quiet Kurt had become. In actuality, Kurt was just basking in the natural warmth of the early morning Arizona sun. The friends were pleased with the whole area and time flew by because of it. Before they knew it, they were at the Arizona Diamondback's home field, Kurt guarding a stall in the bathroom again so that Lina could change in privacy.

"How do you think Miss Amelia would take it if I asked her out on a date when we got back to Portland?" Kurt asked as he leaned against the barrier between Lina's stall and the empty one next to it, looking at himself in the mirror across from him that sat above the sinks.

"I think that's suicide. Have you ever met her father?" Lina asked, popping her head over the top of the closed stall door, her arm hanging over so that she could lightly tap Kurt on the top of his skull. "The man will eat you alive out of concern for his daughter. Besides, I don't think Amelia likes you that way."

"How would you know?"

"Dur... I am her best friend," Lina groaned as she hopped back down to continue changing. Kurt mouthed her words in a mocking fashion. "You know Kurt, I know more about Amelia than her own sister does."

"Really? I did not know that Miss Amelia had a sister."

"Her sister ran away," Lina said, climbing up the bathroom stall again, this time, hopping over it. "No one knows where she is. Maybe with her boyfriend, maybe perfectly happy or dead in a ditch somewhere... we are not really all too sure."

"That's sad," Kurt said as he followed Lina into the main of the visitor's locker room. There was the rest of the team, preparing themselves for the game as well. Everyone was laughing and joking and having a generally good time. The brotherly attitude almost reminded Lina of her high school team, with the exception of that none of the kids in her high school came from a Spanish, Japanese or Dutch speaking country.

"Liam! Why do you always dress in the bathroom?" asked Andreas Cortozar, the man who would be the starting pitcher that game, as Lina sat down next to Kurt's locker.

"I don't like people looking at me while I dress, that's all," Lina commented.

"Then why does Kurt always go with you?" smirked Bryant Whitman, the black-haired third baseman who played backup for Kenny Rook.

"Someone has to stand guard with all of these damn perverts around," Kurt said with a smile as he took off his blue jeans to exchange it for his uniform knickerbockers.

"Hey Jan!" Takashi called from the other side of the room. "Isn't the Diamondbacks your twin brother's team?"

"Yes. Harry does not know what he is in for," Jan Oisterwijk chuckled as he adjusted his batting gloves. "He was second to be born by three minutes... and always will be second in everything we ever do."

"Hey look what I found!" shouted Daniel White's voice from out in the hall by the locker room door. He came in with a very frightened looking raven-haired girl who's eyes darted all around the room, as if she were searching for someone to help her. "She said something about wanting to see you, _Inverse_." Daniel said Lina's last name with a distinctly jealous sneer.

"Miss Amelia!" Kurt gasped.

"Amelia! What in the hell are you doing here?" Lina scolded as she and Kurt rushed over to take her away from Daniel.

"So then this is your little girlfriend," Daniel laughed. Lina gave him her best death glare in attempt to shut him up.

"Mr. Kurt, Mr. Liam, I dema..." Amelia started. Before she could finish, Lina covered her mouth and dragged her friend out into the hallway with the assistance of Kurt.

"Are you brain-dead?" Lina shouted. She could hear the laughter and catcalls of her teammates that were still back in the locker room.

"Mr. Liam, I demand that I be allowed to go with you and Mr. Kurt to the away games! You two need me around!"

"For what? We don't need a babysitter!"

"...but... I..."

"Listen to them Amelia, they're laughing at us. Nobody else has their female friends popping up at random while they're away in another state!" Lina snapped angrily. "You need to be back at home, working and living your own life."

"Mr. Farquain is allowing me, so is Daddy," Amelia replied smugly. "Let me come with you guys..."

"Two's company, three's a crowd," Lina said curtly.

"Actually, three can be company too," Kurt said shivering a slight bit in the hallway without a shirt on. Lina glanced over at the thin man and sighed.

"Go put some clothes on man," she moaned. Kurt happily went back inside the locker room to finish dressing.

"Miss Lina..." Amelia hissed.

"Amelia..." Lina whispered back. She was going to go on, but the creak of the door hinges stopped her.

"Umm... I think you two better come in here," Kurt said with distress in his voice as he opened the door to the locker room a crack. The girls looked over at him with some alarm to why he was summoning them back inside.

"What's up?" Lina asked, a bit worried at how serious Kurt sounded.

"Come see for yourself."

Lina and Amelia walked into the locker room to find all of the Slayers gathered around a small area. Fighting to get their way through, they found the center to be Aaron Reed's portable television, set onto one of the sports stations.

"_We have breaking news to bring you," _the male anchor announced in the basic newscaster's professional monotone. _"The studio has just been informed that the owner of the expansion baseball team in Portland, Rezzo Graywords, has suffered a massive heart attack. This tragic event could change the future of professional baseball in Portland as Mr Graywords's grandson takes over ownership of the team in his stead, either temporarily or permanently..._"

"Holy shit!" Lina swore. "Every single one of us just saw Old Man Graywords yesterday at the stadium! How in the hell did he have a heart attack?"

"They don't know," Gary Polous said, the usual jock-grin wiped clean from his face and a solemn look of grief replacing it. "He was not in the best of health though. That might have been what did it."

"He was also old," mentioned Will Scott. "I met his grandson Zelgadis once. The kid's not even a kid anymore. He's got to be in his twenties at the least."

"Then Old Man Graywords had to have been about seventy, maybe even eighty years old," Lina said thoughtfully, trying to calculate how old the man was based on his grandson's age.

"Stop saying that he 'was' Mr. Liam!" Amelia scolded. "It makes me feel as if he is already dead!"

"He might as well be," Lina said with a heavy heart. "That man is the reason I am here and he is almost gone. I do hope that if this does kill him, at least he doesn't feel anything."

"That is such a sad thing to say!"

"Liam is being kind Miss Amelia," Kurt said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Besides, Zelgadis Graywords might sell the team. He does not like baseball at all and might just get rid of us if his grandfather dies. The old man was dedicated to the Slayers and his grandson despises us. We just got our big break and everything looks as if it is going to go downhill from here."

"How do you know that?" Amelia asked with distress in her voice.

"The boy just does," remarked Gary. "We don't know the rhyme or reason, but he hates baseball and everyone who has to do with the team."

"I think it is because being so hands-on with the Slayers has worn the poor old man down," said the sullen Murdoc Rodriguez. "He was never in the best of health to begin with."

"No," Amelia whispered. "Mr. Graywords can't do that to his grandfather's team! He just can't! He can't sell you!"

"He owns the team now," Lina said solemnly. "Whether we all like it or not, he has the power to do whatever he wants with us. The ball club is dead meat."

**80808080808080808**

The door to the emergency room burst open and Zelgadis rushed in, Frances right behind him. Both had rushed to the hospital from the bookbinding shop and were still dressed in their business clothes. They ran up to the receiving desk and stopped to catch their breath.

"My grandfather is here," Zelgadis panted to the man behind the desk. "His name is Rezzo Graywords."

"Third Floor, ICU Room 23-C... and please don't run. He's stable and not going anywhere for a while," said the male nurse, not even lifting his head from the paperwork he was depressingly looming over.

"Thank God," Frances sighed as she and Zelgadis walked over to the elevator and pressed the button to go to the third floor. When they arrived, they walked out and found exactly where Rezzo was being kept and where his doctor was.

**80808080808080808**

"Your grandfather is a lucky man Mr. Graywords," Dr. Alandra said as she and Zelgadis stood right outside Rezzo's room in the ICU. "At least he has a chance to say goodbye to his family. Is there anyone else I should call other than you who would like to say their farewells?" She pulled some of her blueish-black hair back behind her ear so that she could properly see the health statistics secured on the clipboard she held.

"No. I'm it," Zelgadis said as he looked into the room for a brief second. Frances was sitting next to Rezzo's bed, too scared to do anything but look at the old man who was hooked up to IV needles and machines that kept him just barely alive.

"What about her?" Dr. Alandra asked, noticing Frances's morose face.

"She's just an old friend," Zelgadis said, turning his face back to the doctor's. "Her relation to my grandfather is solely through me."

"Right then," Dr. Alandra sighed. "Well, he has not woken up yet. If you want, you can leave a phone number with me where we can reach you when he does finally become conscious."

"Sure," Zelgadis muttered, taking the clipboard from the woman and scribbling down the number to his cell phone. The doctor smiled at him and walked away, leaving him to go into Rezzo's room.

"Is it possible for him to be in pain and at peace at the exact same time Zelgadis?" Frances asked softly as Zelgadis went and stood at the foot of the bed.

"Of course it is," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Now the question is if he will ever wake up or not."

"He will wake up!" Frances protested, standing up with tears in her eyes. "Don't you have even the slightest bit of hope that he will wake up?"

"It was that damned baseball team that did this to him," Zelgadis spat, glaring angrily at Rezzo as he slept. "That was when his health started to spiral downhill. The damn old fool would not listen to me and now look at where he is. He pretty much just delivered himself to his own grave."

"Zelgadis!"

"I'll talk to you later," Zelgadis said blandly as he turned to exit the room. Frances grabbed onto his elbow and hugged it tightly.

"Please Zelgadis, don't go. At least talk to him..."

"He's asleep."

"I know that. Maybe he might hear you and wake up."

Zelgadis gave the conversation quite the long pause as he stared the statuesque Rezzo down.

"Leave Frances," he finally said.

"Huh?"

"If you want me to talk to him, then you have to leave."

"Fine. I'll be waiting in the hall," Frances said as she slowly backed away from her lover. She gave him a weak smile as she exited the room and disappeared from sight.

"So then," Zelgadis said, looking over at Rezzo's calm face as he walked over to the sleeping man's right side. He took the chair Frances was sitting in and sat down so the he could lean forward and rest his arms on the back. "You are finally going to join Mom, eh? Do you realize how lucky you are? _You _do not have to be the last one to go. Once you are cold and planted, _I_ am the one who gets to wander this world alone, already half-dead and just living life as if the whole world and whatever the hell is in it does not matter."

Zelgadis paused for a moment, realizing how sadistic he sounded. It was actually a disservice to himself to be so cynical.

"Well, I do have Frances... but she just can't seem to make me feel alive again. Part of me died with Mom and Grandmother, you know that." Silence was his response. "Now another piece of me is dying along with you. Please don't die... not yet. I know that the stress of the team caused this. Why did you take on the team if you knew that you would end up like this? Dr. Alandra warned you months and months ago. I even warned you. Did you listen? No."

Taking another pause, Zelgadis found himself staring at the ceiling tiles, trying to hold back tears. He was never supposed to cry, the whole concept did not suit him at all. Men did not cry. They just held back what it was and then released it in private solitude.

_Damn you_, he cursed silently. _What in the hell do you want from me? Why do you have to die? Why did Mom have to die? Why did Dad never come home? Do you have these answers...? Why don't you have these answers?_

"Why don't you tell me what in the damned world is going on? I am not a child anymore. I can take whatever you can throw at me... Just take your best shot you... you... you... _damned shortstop_. " Zelgadis said the last two words with a sneer. Becoming frustrated, he stood up hastily and stormed out of the room.

"So...?" Frances asked hopefully as the chimera briskly stepped out into the hallway.

"Never ask me to do that again," Zelgadis said blandly right before he started to walk away.

_I guess it will be my job to make sure he has a good time tonight_, she sighed to herself as she followed Zelgadis into the elevator, grinning on the inside as she had already begun plotting plans for the evening.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Uh Nez? Things Are Getting Filler-ish Again: Part of the plan! Yes, I have a plan! I know the story is sort of staying in neutral, but that is the way things should be at the moment. It will pick up, trust me. -winks- One more chapter in Zelga-land should do it.

Zelgadis and Rezzo: Yeah, so I kind of wanted Zelgadis to go through this stage of turmoil, where he was really confused and might not even make sense to anyone but himself. I hope he just leaves things off on a little cliff for me to shove him off of later. His story is starting to slip through the cracks! Bwahaha! I also realize that he is off character a slight bit and my going overboard with the depression. That is on purpose and bugging me as well.

Dr. Alandra: I do not own my reviewers or their characters! This is Alandra-chan of Gerao-A.

What's With The Late Update?: The server was being a pain in my rear. .;;


	9. Neo Ceasar!

Get ready with them flamethrowers Frances haters! Between the end of Hachi and the beginning of Kyu, she did some things that might want you all to kill her. Not to worry though! Things shall turn out all right in the end. I do not own _Slayers_, emo-chimeras, death, reviewers, the very thought of death or the concept of trump because I have been trumped in life itself. -shudders- School's in session.

* * *

Kyu

_Neo Caesar! His Grandfather's Final Wish!_

Zelgadis sat up in bed, cursing silently at his sore muscles. He had felt overly worn the entire evening for some unknown reason and his entire body had been flaring up in pain every so often throughout the night. This particular time around he knew why his muscles were sore, yet did not want to blame certain personal pleasure-bringing activities before anything else. Ignoring the sleeping Frances who was in bed next to where he sat, Zelgadis got up, put his beige boxer shorts on and walked out of his bedroom.

_Good God do I hate my life_, he moaned to himself as he entered the bathroom and turned on the light. He stood there for a moment, hovering over the sink and bracing himself on the edges as if he were going to be sick. Looking into the mirror, he noted how haggard his eyes appeared. They showed signs of the fatigue and stress that had been plaguing him the last couple of months since Rezzo started losing his own health and needed almost constant looking-after. Taking a closer look, Zelgadis could see the fine detail of his irises, all teal and luminescent in the pale light from the overhead lamp. His eyes made him seem so old, even though he was only a mere twenty-four years old. His skin was no better, being blue-grey and craggy like a gargoyle's facade would be after years of mistreatment. Zelgadis absolutely hated his appearance. It made him think about everything that had happened to him and how much he hated life itself.

_Why can't I just wake up?_ he thought in an internal rage. _I need to wake up from this damned God-awful dream! Zelgadis... you idiot! Wake up! Why won't this blasted dream end?_

"What's the matter?" he heard Frances say softly. He glared into the mirror so that he could see her in the doorway, standing there in his pajamas with her auburn hair flowing gently down to the small of her back.

"I don't know," Zelgadis curtly lied, looking back down into the sink. He kept his gaze angrily concentrated on the sink drain as Frances walked up to him and put her hand on his bare back.

"Come back to bed," she said softly, now resting her head on his shoulder. Frances looked sadly into the mirror, seeing her lover's downcast face. She wanted to make him feel better, but knew that there was only so much that she could do. Zelgadis had too much on his mind to let her cheer him up. Frances was actually lucky to have gotten him to go to bed with her earlier that night. His grandfather: his last living relative, being in the hospital at that very moment, clinging onto life by a thread... was what Frances decided was having him act so oddly, even for himself. She could not stand to imagine how difficult it was to lose a parent or grandparent that was very close, even not so close, but hated the idea all the same.

"Leave me alone," Zelgadis ordered as gently as he could.

"No."

"I just want to be alone."

"Stop letting your grandfather's situation get to you."

"He is not getting to me."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No."

"I am sure it will help."

"Nothing will help."

"Not even this?" Frances wrapped her arms around him and seductively kissed him at the corner of his mouth, hoping he would come back to her. When he did not, Frances gave up and stormed out of the bathroom, flustered at Zelgadis for not opening up to her, or wanting to come back to bed.

_Oranges and lemons my dear_, Zelgadis thought as he heard the door to his room slam with Frances's spite. _That is what it all boils down to. The sooner you get that, the better off you will be in the end._ He then looked at himself in the mirror and gave a sadistic laugh.

**80808080808080808**

It was the following morning and Zelgadis was sitting in his work office, reading over the paperwork concerning the transfer of all of his grandfather's business to him. It was not a task that he wanted to go about completing, yet he knew that it had to be done. Rezzo was still at the hospital and unconscious, but his condition had worsened throughout the night and the team of doctors headed by Dr. Alandra had expressed their concern about him making it to see another day.

"Zelgadis?" Frances's voice called out. Zelgadis looked up to see her standing in the doorway. She appeared to be in the middle of three different tasks at once, judging from the amount of papers she held in her hand.

"Yes?"

"There is someone here to see you."

"Tell him that I am busy."

"He says that it is about the Slayers..."

"Send him in."

Frances was not even gone for half a minute when an unfamiliar man walked into Zelgadis's office. Looking up, the chimera could see that he was rather young-looking to be an executive type with black hair and tanned skin, dressed in a pinstripe business suit and sunglasses and carried a briefcase that without a doubt carried all of the tools needed for a portable office.

"Hello there Mr. Graywords," the man said cheerfully through a foreign accent that sounded like he could come from Portugal. "My name is..."

"Please sit down," Zelgadis rudely instructed, motioning over towards a chair that faced his desk.

"Thank you Mr. Graywords. As I was saying... my name is Scrik de Cabo and I was sent here by the MLB officials concerning the future of the Slayers," the man said as he sat down in the chair. His voice shrank back at Zelgadis's interruption, as if the cheer was sucked from his words.

"Please go on," Zelgadis said blandly. He did not even look up from the piece of paper he was examining, giving the man from the MLB the feeling that Zelgadis did not even care the slightest bit.

"I have been given the notion that you wish to sell your grandfather's franchise to someone else... is that correct?"

"The sooner the better," Zelgadis said as he finally put down the papers he was glancing over. "How soon do you think you can find a buyer for me?"

"There are a few possible candidates that we are looking over, but it appears as if we might come out with just one to negotiate with you in the end."

"Fine," Zelgadis said flatly. "By when?"

"Mr. Graywords... are you sure that you want to get rid of this ball team?"

"Of course I am. I am not my grandfather you know."

"Yes," Scrik said, adverting his eyes away from Zelgadis uneasily. "Yet you never know how much you can enjoy owning a team... even the profit from a well-based fan support can be surprising if you do not expect it."

"Listen to me carefully, I am not that avid of a baseball fan, nor am I concerned about the profit issue. All I want is to get rid of what has brought my grandfather to his grave."

"I am sorry sir. I did not know that he..."

"...is so close to Death that he might as well be put in the casket already," Zelgadis said sourly. He leaned back in his chair and gave the man before him a very dismal glare.

_What is up with this guy?_ Scrik thought. _He's such a damn cynic it is creepy. Maybe it would be better just to let him sell the team..._

"Do you have something to say Mr. de Cabo?" Zelgadis asked. Scrik jerked back from his mental self-debate and looked up at the chimera. "It seemed as if there was something you were working up the courage to tell me." The look on his face was one of steel, sending shivers up Scrik's spine.

"N-N-No. N-N-Not at all Mr. Graywords..." Scrik stammered. "I guess we'll call you once we get a candidate ready for you to interview."

"Right then," Zelgadis agreed in a very casual manner. "Now please get out of my office. I have a huge load of work to do."

"Yes sir," Scrik said as he picked up his suitcase and rushed out of the room. He walked out of the office slightly terrified by the collected way in which Zelgadis denounced his grandfather's baseball team. There are not many people in the world who act so nonchalant about the death of a loved one and getting rid of their property. It was slightly frightening to say the least.

**80808080808080808**

"So he's dead then," Zelgadis sighed, looking at his grandfather's lifeless body. The machines that were once running and attached to him were all gone, the peaceful mask of death covering his placid face. It had been exactly a half an hour since Zelgadis had talked to the man from the baseball league and he then received an urgent call from the hospital only a few minutes after the he had left. Upon hearing the news of his grandfather's quick spiraling crash towards death, Zelgadis went to the hospital as fast as he could, yet made it there barely too late to see Rezzo again when he was still alive.

"Yes," Dr. Alandra panted, feeling completely exhausted from trying to revive Rezzo. "We did all we could."

"I am sure you did."

"He left something," Dr. Alandra said. She walked over to the table besides Rezzo's bed and picked up a manila envelope and handed it to Zelgadis. "Some very professional person I did not recognize said that he was your grandfather's lawyer and that this was his will."

"Then a professional should read it, not me."

"The man also said it was a copy. Go ahead. The original one is the document that is formally read." She beckoned Zelgadis to take it. He did and slowly began to open it.

"I'll leave you be now," Dr. Alandra said as her beeper went off, signaling that she was needed in another area of the hospital. She walked out and left Zelgadis and Rezzo's corpse alone in the quiet room.

"So what do you want me to inherit you damned old fogey?" Zelgadis asked out loud as he sat down in a chair. Quickly he glanced over the legal document he had pulled out of the manila folder. "Hmm... just what I had figured. Everything. What exactly was it that you wanted me to see?"

Zelgadis looked over at his dead grandfather. He could almost detect a smile on the man's cold lips. Simply being in the same room as a dead body made him feel uneasy, as if a ghost was also in the room with him.

_I wonder..._ he thought. Quickly, Zelgadis turned to the section about the Slayers baseball team. He carefully looked it over and discovered a bit of fine print.

"'_I have frozen all possible ways for my grandson Zelgadis Graywords to sell the baseball team until a solid five year period after my death has passed. If he chooses to sell the team before then however, he forfeits all the rest of his inheritance and property and will become formally disowned, losing the family business as well...'_ Oh, that's very nice of you Grandfather. You sure do know how to keep me tied down, even after you are long gone," Zelgadis whispered angrily. "You suck." He half-expected a reply of "I know" to come out of the cadaver, but it stayed silent instead.

"Zelgadis...?" Frances asked as she walked into the room, having barely finished closing up the office. "Zelgadis... is your grandfather...?"

"Dead. Yes he is. He also left me with this," Zelgadis said as he stood up and held out the papers. Frances took them and studied the contents nervously.

"This is his will."

"That it is."

"He left you everything."

"In a way..."

"What do you mean by that?" Frances snapped. "You got his entire fortune!"

"That baseball team too."

"I thought you were selling that."

"I can't," Zelgadis scoffed, folding his arms and glaring at Rezzo. "Someone had to threaten to disown me and take away my entire inheritance if I sold off the team before five years passed! What in the hell do I need a bloody baseball team for anyways?"

"You never know Zelgadis," Frances answered, unfolding his arms and wrapping her own around his waist. "It could be the start of something absolutely wonderful."

"...or absolutely dreadful."

"You damn cynic."

"I thought you loved me like that."

"Zelgadis, lately you have been taking it too far."

"Fine," the chimera sighed. He put his arms around Frances and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Only if you say I am."

"We should take care of your grandfather now," Frances said morosely as she rested her head on Zelgadis's shoulder, her gaze unwillingly focused on the corpse besides them. Tears started to well up in her eyes. Frances had been attached to Rezzo almost like a granddaughter would be and was already starting to miss him.

"Why don't you go home and take it easy while I take care of him," Zelgadis said. "He was my grandfather you know."

"Alright. I expect you home for dinner."

"Count on it."

Zelgadis watched Frances as she moped out the door. _If only she knew how painful this really is, he thought. If she knew the amount of loss I truly have. She never will though. _He looked over at Rezzo and frowned. He sat there stone silent for quite a long time before calling in a turquoise-haired woman-nurse to assist him in finding the nearest person able to take Rezzo's body to the funeral home.

* * *

**Things To Know**

The Title: I was playing with Latin! -chuckles nervously- The beginning, I believe, translates to "New Ruler". I know "Caesar" is "ruler" and "Neo" is "new", so it should work, if Latin is a language that makes sense... unlike English.

Oranges and Lemons: Yes, this is a reference! It is the start to that spiffy little children's rhyme in the George Orwell book _1984. _Nehszriah loves that book -smiles- Now what does everyone's favorite chimera mean by that? Hmm... that's a good question! Let me go think about it! Seriously, at this point, even I don't know. I guess I've got to go write the explanation now. -sweatdrop-

Zelgadis/Frances: Yes! They're still together! -cackles- Nothing like Zelgadis/OC, huh? Oh, let the perversion in your mind go wild when you imagine what they were doing before the chapter began. -grins-

Scrik: This is a member of Gerao-A and not my invention. I hope the last name is at least close to being similar to a normal Portuguese name. I really wouldn't know. -sweatdrop-

Rezzo Trumping Zelgadis: Now I think that this is just as good as making Rezzo the one who cursed Zelgadis. I mean, it gives the chimera plenty of reason to hate dear old dead Grandpa, now doesn't it? I guess it is pretty much the equivalent of cursing him.

Mystery Turquoise-Haired Woman-Nurse: That's my subtle way of shoving Martina into the fiction. Shoot me if needed.


	10. An unExcellent DC Adventure!

Thank you Ivan for proving that my language skills are not infallible! -bows- We have now exited Zelga-land and gotten back to our main protagonists! -proud of self- I could go on all day about Zelgadis and his issues... but the story was away from Lina for way too long. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Washington D.C. and many other things I ramble about. Enjoy!

* * *

Juu

_An (Un)Excellent D.C. Adventure! What Happened to Them?_

Lina leaned back in her seat on the airplane and tried her best to relax. The past week had been a tiring one. Besides Rezzo Graywords dying and his "prick grandson" (as Lina had called him) trying to sell the team, the entire Slayers team was in a major slump. Arizona had taken all three of the games in their series and Boston had just whipped them good by winning two out of three games. Everyone on the Slayers was nearly drained in energy and drive. Everyone that is, except Kurt. He was sitting between Lina and Amelia on the plane, chatting it up with the latter.

"So then I said _'What's with you saying 'us' all of a sudden? Are there two of you now?'_ He nearly died of embarrassment!" Kurt laughed. Amelia giggled in return. The whole flight, the two of them were simply talking and flirting with each other mercilessly, making Lina more and more irritated by the second.

"Will you shut the hell up? You are grating on my nerves," Lina growled at Kurt. Both of her friends looked over at the redhead with an eyebrow raised.

"What's with you all of a sudden Lina?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah Miss Lina. You haven't been yourself lately."

"How can I be myself with you two flirting up a freakin' storm over there?" Lina snapped.

"Sorry Miss Lina, but we're just talking," Amelia said apologetically. "Mr. Kurt and I enjoy each other's company. We can't exactly help it if you happen to be annoyed."

"Whatever," Lina grumbled as she pulled her baseball cap over her eyes and tried to go to sleep, hoping that the rest of the plane ride would be a bit better if she got some rest.

In reality, the rest of the time Lina was on the airplane, she could not sleep one bit due to Amelia and Kurt's talking. She did not want to make a scene in the airplane, considering what had happened when she had the nightmare on her way to Detroit made her a bit nervous about accidently drawing attention to herself and maybe even be recognized. Lina was fairly good about wearing her wig in public and it was very difficult for her to control her temper, yet that was what she was forced to do. It was even more important now that Rezzo Graywords was dead. She now no longer had the backing of the team's owner, causing Lina to be at the mercy of the very distant Graywords heir. She was able to keep her mouth shut until after the flight had landed in the Ronald Regan Washington National Airport in Alexandria and they were on the road in a rental car towards their nearby hotel.

"Can I ask you something Kurt?" Lina questioned as Kurt made the little green car turn a corner.

"Sure Lina. Shoot."

"Do you remember the discussion we had a while ago the day before Old Man Graywords died?"

"What discussion?"

Lina did not really want to say anything too specific with Amelia in the back seat of the small car, even if she was asleep. Sighing, Lina took off her wig when they passed underneath a dark bridge and stuffed it in her duffel bag.

"The discussion we had in the bathroom about her."

"We talked about someone while in the bathroom?"

"Yes. We talked about her."

"Her?"

"_Her_." Kurt looked over at Lina to find that she was motioning towards the back of the vehicle, trying to incline the fact she was talking about Amelia.

"Oh... that's right. What about her?"

"I told you to keep your hands off."

"What? Oh come on Lina! It's only a little bit of flirting..."

"That back there is like my sister," Lina said, looking out the window at the historically marked buildings that whizzed by. "Besides, the guys all think that she's my girlfriend. What do you think would happen if all of a sudden the two of you were spotted together... flirting of all things?"

"Don't worry about that Lina," Kurt assured as he pulled into the parking lot for their hotel. "Amelia and I are smarter than that."

"I know. It's just that... so are our teammates."

"Relax and go check in please," Kurt said with a deft and almost pleading smile. Lina chuckled and hopped out of the car and went to go check in. Once she got the keys to the two-bed room she was sharing with Kurt and Amelia, she waited patiently until Kurt emerged through the doors with not only his oversized duffle bag, but Lina's duffel and Amelia's suitcase as well. Lina relieved Kurt of her duffel and they both went and put their stuff in the room. It was nice enough and the first thing Lina did when she put down her bag was flop down on one of the big and fluffy beds.

"I want to take a nap," she said happily into one of the pillows.

"Sure. You do that," Kurt said with a hint of cynical flavor to his voice. He took one of the room keys and closed the door. As soon as his footsteps were not audible anymore, Lina bolted off the bed and headed for where she left her shoes at the entrance, grinning widely. She had been wanting to go and play double-not spy on her friends for days already and now was her chance. After throwing on her shoes, she ran out the door, only to run right smack into Aaron Reed, who appeared to have just checked in himself, his own huge sports bag flung over his shoulder.

"Hey Liam!" he said with a chuckle as Lina stood there frozen in shock. "Hey, you'd better get downstairs quick."

"Why...?" Lina asked nervously. Aaron looked at her with amusement.

"I think Kurt might just be hitting on your girl. It would be wise to stop him before some two-timing began."

"_Kuuuurt_..." Lina fumed as she headed towards the stairs. Aaron waved good-bye, not quite realizing that he had as good as signed Kurt's death warrant and continued on to his own room.

**80808080808080808**

Meanwhile, back in the parking lot, Amelia had woken up and realized that the car had stopped. She looked in the front seats to see that Kurt and Lina were not there. Getting out of the car in a panicked state, she calmed down when she saw Kurt casually walk out of the hotel building with a grin on his face that could barely be matched.

"Do you want to go see the sights and catch some lunch before Lina gets up from her nap and realizes that we aren't there?" Kurt asked as Amelia rushed up to him. The raven-haired woman thought about it for a moment as they stood in the shade of an oak tree.

"What would happen if Miss Lina wakes up and notices that we are not there?" she asked. "She would be awfully angry."

"Then again, she would not know where to find us..."

"...and would have to force herself to calm down before she even got to us! Perfect Mr. Kurt! Is this going to be like a date?"

"Only if you want it to be Miss Amelia," Kurt said courteously. Amelia smiled and began to lead a blushing Kurt away by the hand. They were almost at the little green rental car when none other than Lina popped out of the bushes and right in front of Amelia, frightening both her friend and teammate.

"Where do you two think you are going?" Lina asked with a sly grin.

"Miss Lina... before you get angry with us..." Amelia started.

"You two were not planning on leaving without me, now were you?"

"Yes, that was the plan," Kurt said, a bout of male honesty and pride coming upon him.

_Mr. Kurt!_ Amelia shrieked in her mind. _This is not the right time to grow a spine!_ She was right, for Lina's right eye began to twitch as her face became as red as her masculinely cut hair.

"**WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU ARE DOING?**" Lina yelled at the top of her lungs. "**DO YOU GUYS EVEN REALIZE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SOMEONE SEES THE TWO OF YOU TOGETHER WITHOUT ME?**"

"Mr. Liam! Calm down!" Amelia shouted back. Lina grabbed Amelia by her shoulders and squared her friend up so that they looked into each other's eyes.

"Do you know what the guys on the team think about us?" she asked in a barely contained growl.

"What is it that they think...?" Amelia replied, her eyes trying to furiously find Kurt's. He was no where to be found, finding refuge behind the car while Lina went on her ranting-fest.

"They think that you are my girlfriend. We are supposed to be a couple, not you and Kurt."

"That would be gross..."

"...BUT THAT'S WHAT THEY THINK!" Lina shouted as she shook Amelia's shoulders for emphasis. "I was told that you two were out here by Aaron! He means well but he has no damn clue! Amelia!"

"M-M-Mr. Liam...?"

"What?"

"Would you like to come along and chaperone us?"

"Sure!" Lina said in an amiable manner as she hopped into the back seat of the rental car and put on her seatbelt. "Come on! Time's a wastin'!"

Amelia and Kurt stood there dumbstruck. Neither of them knew what to take by Lina's sudden change of heart, but decided not to test their luck and go along with the redhead no matter how oddly mercurial she was being. Sweat-drops adorned their brows as they got into the front seats and Kurt drove off towards the monuments, praying to God that nothing would go wrong.

**80808080808080808**

Once the trio of friends got to the area of Washington D.C. that contained most of the monuments, things seemed to go fairly smoothly. It was fairly warm as they walked all around the National Mall and looked at the monuments that lined it. It was lucky for them that no one there recognized Lina, or even Kurt for that matter, for they were determined to blend into the crowd. They were successful at this and were having a fairly good time.

"I wonder how many people know about this memorial?" Amelia asked inquisitively as she walked over to a memorial that was almost hidden on a tree-covered island. It was some plaques commemorating the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the document that first created the United States of America. The plaques were polished granite slabs set into the earth at an angle so that Lina, Kurt and Amelia had to go down a small flight of steps to view them properly on the cobblestone circle the stones surrounded.

"I don't know," Lina answered, looking around and noticing that they were the only ones in the area. She itched her fake hairline, becoming quite uncomfortable in her wig due to the heat. "I never heard about this place before."

"It must not be the biggest crowd-puller," Kurt stated as he leaned on one of the engraved stones. He started to look about the area and wondered why no one else was there, even if it would be just for the shade the trees provided.

"Mr. Kurt! Don't sit on that!" Amelia snapped. "That's disrespectful!"

"So? No one can arrest me for wanting to sit down."

"...but I can take you off the opening line-up," a voice said, making Kurt jump up onto his feet. He looked on the raised earth behind him to see none other than Xellos, standing there with a soft-serve ice cream cone and a rather bemused look upon his face.

"What do you want?" Lina spat at the purple-haired man. Xellos hopped down to where Lina was and opened his eye in a reverse wink.

"Just checking up on you three, of course," he smirked.

"Damn it all you fu..." Lina began to shout. Kurt went and covered her mouth before she could say anything else.

"Well, at least I am not a pansy," Xellos grinned as he took another lick of his ice cream. Lina wrenched herself from Kurt's grip and turned bright red as she screamed insults at her manager, only receiving calm replies back.

"**Wanker!**"

"Flat-chest."

"**Idiot!**"

"Girly."

"**Ass-hole!**"

"Toothpick."

"**Bastard!**"

"How did you know that?" Xellos asked, slightly taken aback. Lina fell down in shock at his reply. Amelia and Kurt stood there watching the scene with embarrassment enough for all four of them.

"Let's go and take off before they stop fighting and want to come along," Kurt whispered.

"Right Mr. Kurt," Amelia replied. She did not want to leave Lina alone with Xellos, but did not want to be seen with Lina and Xellos fighting even more. "I had hoped to see Mount Vernon before having to go to the stadium."

"Not Mount Vernon, there is not enough time. We might be able to see the cherry trees though if we hurry," Kurt said as he began to casually walk off as Lina and Xellos started up their fight once more. Amelia followed him and snuck off without the bickering pair even noticing they were gone until about five minutes had passed and Amelia and Kurt were far from sight.

**80808080808080808**

Kurt and Amelia stood outside the door to the visitor's locker room in JFK Stadium, becoming more and more impatient by the second. After abandoning Lina and Xellos and seeing the cherry trees, they had gone directly to the stadium where the Slayers were to be playing the Nationals that night. Even though the game was scheduled for five after seven in the evening, the fact that hours had passed and that six o'clock was inching closer and closer was putting the two friends on the edge.

"I wonder what happened to Mr. Liam," Amelia sighed, leaning into the wall.

"Ah, Liam will be fine. It's our manager I'm worried about," Kurt lightly joked, forcing a small smile to appear across Amelia's face.

"Hey Kurt, any sign of them?" Kenny Rook asked as he poked his head out into the hall. Kurt gave him a disheartened shrug and the third baseman went back into the locker room to relay the news to the rest of the team.

"Mr. Kurt," Amelia asked. "Why does Mr. Liam and Mr. Xellos have to be here at six when the game does not start for over an hour?"

"So that they have time to get ready of course," Kurt replied, looking up and down the hallway. "We need to get a game-play from the manager about what we should try to do and not do during the game, figure out what the other team possibly has in store for us, things like that. Also, Liam doesn't really give himself much room to change, now does he?" Amelia looked up at Kurt and into his eyes, feeling the immense worry he had for his sisterly figure Lina. She gave a comforting smile and decided to take another look down the hallway.

"There they are!" she gasped, seeing Lina and Xellos run down the hallway and towards the locker room. Both ran straight at the door and Kurt had to take Lina's wig right off her head as she rushed into the locker room without even stopping for a second.

"I wonder what's with her?" Kurt mused as he threw Amelia Lina's wig. Amelia stuffed the mop of red hair in her oversized handbag for safekeeping during the game.

"I don't know. They seemed awfully rushed though, as if something was chasing them. I don't think I even want to know what they just went through."

"I second that," Kurt laughed as he began to walk into the locker room. Amelia paused him for a moment to give his a short peck on the cheek and then ran off, wishing him well for the game. Kurt smiled as Amelia ran off to go to her seat in the stands, feeling as if he was one of the luckiest guys in the world.

* * *

**Things To Know**

The Washington D.C. Area: Just trust me in the fact that the characters are there. I could go on forever about what every little detail is, but I don't think the admins would like that very much. There is a post size limit and I think author's notes can't be longer than the story content. Superfluous really.

D.C.: So the Nehszriah went here for a family vacation in the summer of '05 and it was torture getting around. High-top vans can go virtually nowhere to begin with and we got lost because multiple streets had the same name and my mother and father are not the best with directions in brand-new places.

Double-Not Spy: I took this from the classic television show _The Beverly Hillbillies_, for I always found it humorous when Jethro wanted to be just like James Bond and said that he wanted to be a "double-not spy". Nehszriah is just easily amused.

JFK Stadium: This is the home of the Washington Nationals, having their base settled in Washington D.C.. I saw the outside of this stadium one day. It was big. It was also round-ish. I do believe we were lost at the time.

Kurt/Amelia: Yes, they are a couple. I hope their shipment is believable. Most know my track record of Amelia-shipment usually goes only one way... towards Zelgadis. I thought this would be a change of pace, since I already hooked Zelgadis up with an OC of his very own. Amelia needs to have some fun herself, am I right?


	11. Mary's Met Her Match!

Ladies and Gentlemen, my fanfiction cohorts and comrades, fellow members of the Slayers Fan Guild... I am proud to present the chapter where I write in Gourry Gabriev! -Holy Grail cheer- I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, Knoxville, the Grand Ole Opry, reviewers or instant infatuation.

* * *

Juu-ichi

_Mary's Met Her Match! Lina's Pitching Defeat!_

Lina stood in the sweltering heat of the Kentucky sun, looking over the empty Ball Park Park that she would be playing in within a few hours. It had been a week and a half since she had been stranded in Washington D.C., with Xellos Metallium as her only company to boot. It was a very confusing day, trying to navigate through a city that had multiple streets with the same name. She had managed to get though it and not kill Xellos in the end and now she was standing in Knoxville, the city that held her next opponents: the Gladiators, an expansion team just like the Slayers were. Lina could taste a coming victory on the tip of her tongue as she walked down the stone steps of the bleachers and felt the sun's rays on her bare neck.

_Hmm. I'm going to have to put on some sun block so that I don't get burned_, she thought as she reached the seats right behind the visitor's dugout. Hopping on top of the dugout roof, Lina gazed at the field and sighed blissfully at the one place where she could be herself and was not criticized for doing so. She had even banned Amelia from coming along on this trip, hoping that some time away from her would help manage her secret easier and be beneficial to both of them. Yet who Lina really feared Amelia being around often was not herself, but Kurt. Him and Amelia had become very close; far too close for Lina's comfort. She shuddered to think about what they were doing while she was not around. In fact, she tried very hard not to think about it and attempted to think about other things instead... like baseball.

"HEY LIIIIINAAAA!" shouted Kurt's voice from seemingly nowhere, making Lina jump and fall off the roof of the dugout and onto the field. Kurt looked sheepishly at her from the dugout as she got up with a groan.

"What did you go and do that for Kurt?" Lina moaned. She shot an evil glare over at Kurt that screamed that she was ready to murder him.

"I thought that you should get ready before anyone else gets here," he answered. Lina looked over at her brotherly teammate and sighed.

"...and why are you not dressed and ready to play though we have over four hours left until game time?"

"You're mean Lina," Kurt grouched as Lina entered the dugout and the pair walked into the tunnel that brought them to the locker room.

"No, I'm just going to become the greatest baseball player the world has ever seen!" Lina exclaimed as she entered the locker room main.

"That has nothing to do with being mean or not," Kurt muttered as he slouched down on the wooden bench and watched Lina in a bored fashion as she walked over into the privacy of the bathroom stalls. Before long, the sound of Lina giving out a surprised yelping noise and another voice delivering a feminine screech filled the air.

"Kurt!" Lina bellowed as she stormed into the main of the locker room, still clenching her change of clothes. "What in the hells was Amelia doing in the stalls?"

"Ask her," Kurt said nonchalantly. He leaned back and rested on the wall of the locker, grinning as wide as a sly trickster fox would in such a situation.

"Mr. Liam!" Amelia yelled, rushing after her friend. "You should really learn to knock on public bathroom doors before entering!"

"Why in the hell are you even here?" Lina half-shouted. "You are supposed to be home in Nowhere... not here in Knoxville! Have you gone daft in the head?"

"I am here as Mr. Kurt's guest," Amelia huffed, folding her arms and haughtily turning her nose upward. "If you have a problem with me, take it up with him."

"Is _that _why you did not want to split a room with me this trip, huh Kurt?" Lina smiled as she looked over at Kurt.

"Amelia, don't bring me into this!" he curtly interjected. "She wanted to come and I couldn't exactly let her travel alone!"

"Mmm... sure," Lina sighed in disbelief. Since the initial shock of Amelia randomly appearing had faded, Lina decided to go and change. When she came out of the bathroom, Lina

discovered her two best friends sitting on one of the wooden benches, a slight bit too close for her comfort.

"Yech, get a room you two," Lina said in a disgusted voice.

"Mr. Liam," Amelia said through a giggle. "We already have a room."

"Uuuuugh..." Lina shuddered, throughly disgusted with Amelia's comment. Kurt broke out into half-contained laughter.

"Think before speaking Liam," he smirked. "You never now, that bad habit of your could cause trouble one day."

"Are you saying that _I_ am the one who is too impulsive?" Lina spat as she shoved her clothes into her locker. "Look at the two of you, sharing a hotel room, being all snuggly in public, the nerve you two possess..."

"Speaking about getting on other people's nerves," Kurt said smoothly. "I think that you should get going Amelia my dear, otherwise someone from the team could walk in and see us and that would not be good for either us or Liam's sake, now would it?"

"I hate it when you are right about those kinds of things Mr. Kurt," Amelia sighed as she reached into Kurt's locker for her purse and walked out of the locker room. "See you at the room by about ten?"

"Hopefully," Kurt smiled as Amelia disappeared behind the locker room door. He stared at the door mischievously until Lina violently smacked him on the back side of his head.

"You damn pervert!" she snapped. Kurt looked over at his attacker angrily.

"What? What did I do?"

"Stop hitting on Amelia!"

"I am not allowed to hit on my own woman?"

"Your woman?"

"Yes, my woman. Would you rather her be _your _woman, Liam?"

"Yech, you disgusting pig," Lina muttered as she stormed her way over to the bathroom stalls again so that she could blow off some steam without risking being seen by other members of the team. There she waited for her temper to pacify. The process took a few hours, but she was luckily ready to go by game time.

**80808080808080808**

Lina looked around and inspected the surrounding spectators in the ballfield. There were many there who supported Knoxville, gold, scarlet and grey glittering the stands with hardly any sign of green in sight. There was a line of men dressed in outfits of the same coloring on the field as the National Anthem was being sung with much more skill than it was sung at Opening Day in Portland. A few of the men, being the Knoxville Gladiators' athletes, nervously shifted in place as the young man from a local high school belted out the national song. Lina smiled as the teen quickly ended the song and the game was put into action. She was ready to trounce the National League's fledgling team and she was not planning on going easy on them.

**80808080808080808**

"Óla and welcome to Ball Park Park, Home of the Knoxville Gladiators!" said a man with dark hair into a microphone that was set in the stadium pressbox. The pressbox was similar to the one at Jones Soda Stadium, but instead of many different broadcasters in the room, there

was only two men sitting at the one microphone. "My name is Ramon Wild Punch and with me here today is AirJay Andrades from the Portland Slayers broadcasting team, filling in for my co-commentator Nehszriah Shirubaa Kiri Morgana who so happens to be... erm... not here… at the… current moment. Today's game is going to be an interesting one indeed, where the Knoxville Gladiators are going to host the Portland Slayers in a historic first meeting of these two brand new expansion teams."

"Where's my Dear Sweet Naga?" AirJay asked, looking around with a worried and protective expression.

"Not here," Ramon said, covering up the microphone so that the audience did not hear their impromptu conversation. "You are filling in for _my _female counterpart. It is only for this one game. Come on now and cooperate."

"Where is she?"

"Who? Naga or Nehszriah?"

"Both."

"Just help me broadcast the game and I'll help you find Naga afterwards," Ramon sighed. AirJay gave a little dance of triumph and began to animatedly describe the game as if his Naga were standing right next to him. Little did either AirJay or Ramon know, but Nehszriah had actually stolen Naga and Kiko and the three of them went to Nashville for the day so that they could watch the Grand Ole Opry and throw things at the musicians who did not sing covers of Patsy Cline songs. Neither of the male broadcasters would see their female coworkers until late that evening when Nehszriah would drag a _very _drunk Naga into Ramon's apartment and leave the two befuddled men, and the reluctant dog, to take care of her. That was not a very nice thing to do, considering how mean of a drunk Naga was being that night and in the morning, the guys demanded an apology… which they got.

**80808080808080808**

Lina grinned as she walked up to the plate for her turn to bat in the top of the second inning. She went through her at-bat ritual of adjusting her gloves and then tapping the end of her bat on the inside, outside, then inside of her left foot. It was how she came up to bat ever since she was in middle school and it had become her tradition; just like so many other baseball players had superstitions in how they act in the batter's box. Lina raised the bat over her right shoulder and grinned.

_Any last words, ya rookie?_ Lina laughed to herself as she brought her eyes upon the pitcher. A jolt suddenly went through the soles of her feet, bolting up her legs and surging into her spine. She froze at the plate, no more mobile than a statue.

"Strike one!" the umpire called out as the baseball whizzed right past Lina and into the catcher's mitt. Lina did not even see the pitcher release the ball, let alone see the ball coming at her. She was too taken aback to do anything, yet she could not put her finger on the reason to why. The man on the mound was very tall, so tall that he could have easily been playing professional basketball instead of baseball. He had very long blonde hair that was pulled back with a crimson band and laughing blue eyes that shone underneath long bangs. He concentrated in a peculiar way as the catcher threw back the baseball, as if he took his eyes off the white object for even a split second he would get hit in the forehead. Lina had become mysteriously captivated by this man and the very idea of being captivated by anyone, male or female, was disturbing enough.

_Who in the hell is he?_ Lina thought, still in her inert form of panic. Without moving her head, she was able to look over at the scoreboard where the names of all those out on the field were posted. _Gabriev...? This "Gabriev" guy... there is something about him..._

"Strike two!" the umpire announced as the ball screamed past Lina for a second time. She shook her head and snapped out of her standstill. Shifting in her position in the batter's box, she went through her at-bat ritual once more.

_Goddamn it all_, Lina grumbled internally. She looked over at the pitcher once more, ready to smack the ball out of the park. Once she looked at the pitcher though, her muscles froze up once more and Lina Inverse could not move even a single bit. Her brain went numb as a white streak went by and her worst fear was announced.

Liam Inverse had struck out.

Now, Lina was no stranger to going down on strikes. She went down about as much as her other teammates did, more or less, yet this strikeout was different. She could not fight back. There was no effort to be made to hit the ball, let alone move. If the pitch had been wild, she would not have been able to move out of the way in time. The pitcher, the man named Gabriev, he had her under some type of spell. It was the most disturbing thing to Lina, so disturbing that she stayed in her batting position until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Liam, go sit down in the dugout now," Takashi Takeda said as Lina slowly turned around to look at him. There was a look of brotherly concern on his face as she softly nodded her head and meandered back to the dugout and collapsed on the bench next to Kurt.

"Liam, you don't look so good," Kurt observed. Aaron Reeds, who was sitting on the other side of Lina, curiously looked at Lina as well and cocked his head in wonder.

"He seems fairly pale. Maybe it is exhaustion. My dad was a sports doctor and I saw him get tons of patients like that; pale as a sheet and overworked."

"Do you... think he should sit out?" Kurt asked.

"The rest of the game?" Aaron exclaimed.

"Sure. I know it is kind of drastic, but what good is Liam if he just stands there?"

"I guess you have a point," Xellos inputted, making Kurt and Aaron jump at the sudden invasion of their conversation. The violet-haired man gave a mischievous grin and called over the young Hispanic man named Esteban Hernandez who was Lina's backup. The young man accepted the assignment of Lina's spot in the lineup and when the Slayers were forced to switch to defense for the bottom of the inning, he went out onto the field in her stead. Lina had been allowed to go back to the hotel for the day, which by no means was going to be a good thing for her to do.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Ball Park Park: How do I put this...? The stadium is named after the Ball Park brand of hot dogs, making it "Ball Park Park". Get it? Still, if you say it real fast, it sounds as if you are barking like a puppy!

Is This Amelia/Kurt Gone Too Far?: Remember, she is still addressing him as Mr. Kurt and not just Kurt or using a pet name, so there is still hope... right? -nervous sweatdrop- I am glad that most reviewers enjoyed the setup for the pairing. I was kind of sweating it to be honest.

AirJay and... Ramon?: Comic relief. I do not own these two characters, for there is no way that I can own my reviewers. I do own, however, the spiffy little character I threw in there that is me. (The middle names I picked for myself mean "silver" and "fog".) I am also not advocating myself in a fiction pairing with a reviewer. That would be weird.

Gourry: Yes, he has finally been written into the story! Huzzah! I bet many people are happy now, right? I too really wanted to get to this point. Things are now right with the world.

Grand Ole Opry and Patsy Cline: Umm... I normally don't like country music and so if I went to see the Grand Ole Opry (which is like a country music concert that plays in Nashville only), I would definitely get thrown out for hurling things at people who try to sing a song that's a mix of country/rock (I wouldn't throw things at Kid Rock though, since he's cool that way) and well... yeah... I'm weird. Sue me.


	12. Condolence For A Redhead!

Bear with me please! This was a very, very, VERY hard chapter to write. My fluids were running thick as far as the creative aspect was concerned and it even put me behind schedule. Therefore, if one finds that there is some character... straying... please forgive. -bows- I really do not wish to upset. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball or other things in this fiction because I am not important. Carry on.

* * *

Juu-ni

_Condolence For A Redhead! Cynicism For A Chimera?_

"Are you sure that we should do this Amelia?"

"I am sure Mr. Kurt. It is the only thing we can do at this point."

"Lina is going to be so mad at us."

"It doesn't matter. It has to be done."

Amelia and Kurt walked up to the hotel door arm in arm. They both appeared nervous as Kurt went and knocked on the metal door with the brass knocker that was there. Both parties gulped at the very idea of what could be waiting beyond the doorway.

"Lina? We know you are in there," Amelia said when they received no answer. She went and crouched down so that she could try to see if there was light filtering out from underneath the door. Sure enough there was and the door had even been locked up. Amelia hopped up from the rug and ran off down the hall, telling Kurt to stay where he was.

"Lina," he sighed, knocking again on the door, this time with his knuckles. "Come on and let me in. It's not as if we were strangers."

"Go away," Lina snapped. Kurt shook his head and knocked again, only to get the same reply. He then leaned up against the hallway wall and patiently awaited Amelia's return.

"I'm back," Amelia announced when she jogged down the hall a few minutes later. She was brandishing a small, golden key and used it to open the door. "I pretended to be Miss Lina and got the spare room key." Carefully she went inside and looked around to find Lina sitting on her bed, blankly staring at the wall. Amelia, followed closely by Kurt, went and stood between Lina and the wall and tried to get the redhead's attention. It was no use though, for their friend was unresponsive and dangerously stoic.

"Lina," Kurt asked slowly. "What happened out there today? Are you alright?" In a very brotherly manner, he knelt down and held Lina's shoulders so that he had no choice but to look into her placid eyes. Tell me Lina, what is going on?" There was a long pause before Lina could choke out what she wanted to say.

"I… don't… know," she managed to whisper. "That pitcher… I don't know what he did, but whatever it was, it made sure that I couldn't move. I simply froze."

"We know that you froze," Amelia said softly. "What Mr. Kurt and I wanted to know was the reason to why you froze up there at the plate to begin with."

"I told you that I don't know!" Lina yelled angrily, standing up brusquely. "Do you really think that I know what happened if I ended the game early?"

"Miss Lina! You don't have to be so harsh on us for trying to be your friends!" Amelia snapped back. Kurt stood up and backed away from both Lina and Amelia, for they were both so mad that they could have started to throw punches.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" Lina shouted.

"We only want to help you!" Amelia retorted.

"I don't need help!"

"Yes you do!"

"You aren't even supposed to be here!"

"Neither are you!"

"I at least I am not traveling around the country with my boyfriend and sharing a hotel room with him!"

"At least I have a boyfriend!"

"You stupid little kid!"

"We're the same age!"

"I don't care! You look like you are fourteen!"

"Umm… girls?" Kurt asked meekly, trying his best to intervene. "Can we please stop this fighting? It isn't exactly a good thing for the people around us to hear you two screaming at the top of your lungs."

"Stay out of this," Amelia and Lina growled at the same time, shooting Kurt a set of killing glares. He cowered slightly as the girls' auras ignited and threatened to burn him to a crisp.

"Fine, then I'll go back to my room," he said, backing off towards the door. Amelia gave a frustrated sigh and followed him out the door. Right before closing the door behind her, she gave Lina was appeared to be a look of absolute loathing and worry. Once the door clicked shut, Lina collapsed down onto the bed and glared evilly at the ceiling. Her expression meant death for all who dared to cross her at that moment. Lina's bottom lip quivered slightly, as if something that wanted to come out for years was being pent up inside. Without the slightest sound, Lina turned off the lamp next to her bed and laid down, burying her face in the fluffy pillow.

_Lina Inverse you damn sissy-girl! _she yelled to herself. _Don't you dare start to cry! You have not cried since you were little... don't start again now... damn wuss..._ _you are going to find out what in the Hell was going on back there whether you like it or not! Lina Inverse shall defeat Gourry Gabriev!_

Choking on her tears, Lina went to sleep, angry at herself for yelling at Amelia and angry beyond all reason at the man named Gourry Gabriev who had turned her into a fool.

**80808080808080808**

Zelgadis looked at his watch and grunted with disapproval. Frances was late. They had arranged for her to come over that night to his house for what she called "a bit of fun". In all actuality, the evening would most likely satisfy Frances's desires in the end, but Zelgadis first wanted someone to simply talk to and quietly watch a movie with. He knew that getting even a movie out of Frances would be an accomplishment all by itself, let alone keeping her away from his bed.

"I'm here!" Frances's voice called out from the front door as she walked in. Her auburn hair was down in soft curls and she wore a long pink skirt and a white shirt. Walking through the house, she found Zelgadis already laying down on the couch in the living room, the movie credits of _North By Northwest _already playing on the television.

"There you are," Zelgadis said blandly as Frances walked into the livingroom. He did not see the annoyed look on her face as she glanced at the television screen. "I was beginning to think that you were going to bail out on me."

"Can we do something other than watch old movies?" Frances pouted. She hated watching the films. Sometimes, it seemed as if all she and Zelgadis did was watch old films... almost as if it was some strange version of foreplay.

"I just got the _Lord of the Rings _Trilogy the other day; the extended versions at that. Would you rather watch one of those?" Zelgadis suggested, sitting upright on the couch and looking over at Frances. "How about it?"

"No."

"_Pirates of the Caribbean_?"

"No."

"_Last of the Mohicans_?"

"No."

"_Ocean's Eleven_?"

"I said no old movies."

"Come on, I have the newer version too, you know," Zelgadis said, looking over at his girlfriend. She did not look too pleased with him. "Okay then, no movies. What do you want to do then...?"

"You know what I want to do," Frances said slyly, a hint of lust in her voice. She went and sat down next to him and put her arm around his waist. She seductively tried to look into his eyes and bring him to her, but what she received was a cold, hard stare.

"Is that all you ever think about?" he asked, his voice like a shard of ice.

"No... what would make you think that...?"

"Your mind is incredibly one-track you know."

"What's with you lately?" Frances snapped, standing up and looking at Zelgadis in disgust. "You've been such a prick these past few weeks..."

"Maybe you're the one who's acting differently," Zelgadis said, closing his eyes and leaning backwards to rest into the couch.

"No. This has been happening ever since your grandfather died," Frances protested. "I'm not the one who turned into a jerk."

"Well, if you don't want to be around anymore, then just leave already," Zelgadis said monotonously. He looked over at Frances and studied her face. It had gone paler than pale.

"...what...?"

"You heard me. If you really think I'm that big of a jerk, then I don't want to see you again until we get back to work on Monday."

"Fine..." Frances said, tears forming in her eyes. "Good-bye! I don't ever want to see you again! You won't even see me at work because... I quit!" Her eyes were alight with fire as she turned on her heel and stormed out the door. Zelgadis could hear the car door to her Corvette slam and the tires squeal as she sped off.

_Uh-oh_, he thought when he couldn't hear Frances's car anymore. _I need to hire a new secretary. I am such an idiot_. Storing the thought into his memory, Zelgadis leaned back into the couch again and turned the movie back on. He wanted to watch the movie and he was going to watch it, Frances or no Frances.

He still felt like a jerk though.

**80808080808080808**

A week had gone by since Frances had quit her job as Zelgadis's secretary and the prospects of finding a replacement were not very bright. In a day and a half he would have to leave for Sydney, Australia for a business meeting and was worried that he would be leaving the office without order to be held. Out of sixty applicants that had applied in response to his advertisement, none seemed qualified. They were all boorish or flippant in his mind and not a single one was able to complete all of the office tasks that Frances had done. Some might have been able to file, then crash and burn when it came to using computers. Others were computer geniuses without any notion for what a filing cabinet was used for other than storing outdated floppy discs. Then, there were the ones who knew nothing and pissed him off by even applying.

_This is definitely not my week, is it?_ Zelgadis thought as he looked at the picture frame on his desk. The photograph inside was of him with his grandparents and mother when he was about nine years old. He examined the joyous features of his mother's face carefully as he tried asking her memory the question again. The old picture said nothing and instead just gazed back with stony silence.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Zelgadis looked over at the door and noticed a shadow of someone standing outside filtering through the crack at the bottom between the door and the floor.

"Come in," he answered, directing his vision to the top of a pile of rejected applications on his desk.

"Mr. Graywords, I am here about the job opening," a female voice said. Zelgadis looked up to see a young raven-haired woman standing before his desk, holding out an application.

"Fine," Zelgadis replied icily, snatching the paper from the woman. She sat down and looked hopefully at him as he skimmed through the writing. "Have you ever worked as a secretary before?"

"No, sir, but I have handled paperwork on occasion at my last job in a hardware store."

"It says here that you have computer training. What kind?"

"Microsoft Office," she replied. "I also learn quickly, if there is a program you need me to become familiar with."

"It says here that you live all the way out in Nowhere. That sure is pretty far away to commute from, don't you think so?"

"I am moving to the city before long. I decided it was better job-wise here in Portland. Right now, I am just staying with a good friend of mine."

"How are your office skills? Can you file, take telephone calls, deal with visitors...?"

"All of that, sir," the woman replied, bowing slightly. "I am very energetic too. It takes a lot to get me down!"

"Alright then Miss... Seiryuun," Zelgadis said, pausing a slight bit to read the woman's surname on her application. "When can you start?"

"Seriously!"

"Yes. Is it possible to begin right now?"

"Of course!" she said excitedly. "I just have to tell my friend that I won't be back at the apartment until later." She walked out of the room, pulling a cell phone out of her pocket and pressing some buttons in order to call her friend.

_At least she seems like she can actually do something for me besides sit there_, he thought as he looked over the woman's application again. _Hmm... I wonder if I can send her to things concerning the baseball team. That way, I don't even have to be anywhere within a hundred feet of the stadium. I think that would be a wonderful idea, since I am going to be stuck with that blasted thing for five damn years..._ Then, a voice from outside cut Zelgadis's thinking off abruptly.

"Mr. Kurt!" Amelia squealed so loud into her cell phone that her new boss could overhear with ease. "I got the job! Now I can find my own place and I won't have to move in with you or Miss Lina! Isn't that great?" There was a slight pause before she began talking again. "I have to go now. I don't know when I'll be back. Good-bye!"

"That your boyfriend?" Zelgadis asked solemnly as Amelia came back into the room after putting away her cell phone. She looked at him sheepishly as he face blushed pink.

"Kind of..."

"I guess that doesn't matter too much right at this very moment," Zelgadis said, briskly getting up from behind his desk and walking over to a filing cabinet. "I have an international conference to attend within the next forty-eight hours and you need to know all the ropes plus some before my departure."

_Oh no... _Amelia cried internally when she saw the multitude of papers that came out of the messily-kept drawer Zelgadis opened in the cabinet. _This is definitely going to take longer than I though.

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

Lina: Yeah, she sort of lost her sense of reason when she went up against Gourry, so she might not seem very Lina-ish.

Movie List: I do not own the greatness that is rightfully bound to Tolkien, Jack Sparrow, Daniel Day Lewis and his Frontier Hero Greatness or Frank Sinatra/Those-Guys-Who-Annoy-Me-In-the-Remake.

No More Frances: -points pencil at character- Write-off. Heh. I did everyone a favor. The chimera is fair-game 'Melia! Go and get him! Now, will good ol' Frances ever come back? Nehszriah hasn't decided yet.

The Job Interview: One of the most interesting parts of the chapter, since I've never gone through one myself. -sighs- Another way I am just fudging real-life things in my fictions. I am also trying to figure that Zelgadis is not exactly orthodox in anything, so it should be alright for me to conduct life this way.


	13. Dance of the Patriotic Wieners!

I have found that a common comment on last week's post was that I had Zelgadis list a bunch of new movies as old ones. Not true. I had him listing new movies in hopes of getting a movie out of the evening. I sure hope that didn't count as a review reply. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Shiran, Independence Day and many other aspects of this story since I don't technically own any copyrights.

* * *

Juu-san

_Dance of the Patriotic Wieners! What Is There To Celebrate?_

A cherry-red Mustang idled at a traffic light on the main street of Nowhere, Oregon. All around the street and in the shops there were festive decorations covering just about everything in sight. Red, white and blue was blanketing the town, ready for the day's nation-wide celebration. It not only covered the shops and sheriff's office and the city hall and places like that, but the citizens as well, everyone in sight getting in touch with their patriotic side.

_Now I know they did not put all this up for my coming home,_ Lina thought as the traffic light turned green and she put her foot on the gas pedal. She itched her wig after turning a corner, hoping that the only people she would encounter today already knew of her double life so that she could take it off. Chuckling to herself about the notion of becoming Nowhere's instant celebrity, Lina pulled into the dirt-and-pebble driveway of an old and traditional-seeming farmhouse, parking her car right behind a green Lumina. The house was three stories tall and was painted stark white with a blue trim on the window lattice. There was no fence around the property, yet it was positioned far enough away from the neighbor so that a property line did not matter and the backyard melded perfectly with the woods that were situated behind it. A long porch wrapped around the house like a balcony, giving off a homey look that showed the true age of the house to be reaching that of a century.

_Man, I hope that Amelia is willing to talk to me_, Lina thought as she got out of the car and meandered into the backyard. _She's been avoiding me like the Plague recently. I wonder what's up with that. I hope she still isn't mad at me about snapping at her two weeks ago._ To Lina's surprise, the only soul to greet her when she reached the backyard was a large white dog with bright green eyes that bounded up to her cheerfully.

"Hey there Shiran!" Lina said happily as the dog put two massive paws on her shoulders and began licking her face. "All right, all right... down girl... where's Amelia at? Can you tell me where she is?"

Shiran took her paws down and playfully bounced over towards the back door of the house. Lina laughed lightly as she followed the dog. She could still see a hint of soft purple in the animal's fur from when she accidently got into some lavender paint the previous November. Her whole coat had been soaked in the paint and both Lina and Amelia feared it might have dyed some of her hair permanently.

"Amelia...?" Lina called out as she walked into the back door and into the kitchen. Not to her surprise, Amelia walked into the room, brandishing an apron and an unusually large watermelon.

"Hello there Miss Lina," Amelia said with what sounded like a sullen attitude. She placed the melon on the kitchen counter and pet Shiran on the head before reaching for a knife to slice up the juicy fruit with.

"What's the matter Amelia?" Lina asked, taking off her wig and setting it on the coat rack as if it were a hat. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Amelia replied. "My new job has just worn me a bit." She cut into the melon rind with a bland thrust and halved, then quartered it so that she could easily carve out the juicy red insides.

"Your new job?" Lina asked. "I didn't know you had a new job. Why'd you leave the hardware store?"

"I wanted to have a job closer to Portland, so I got a job in Portland," Amelia said, forcing a wan smile across her face. "I am working as the new secretary for Mr. Graywords's business."

"What...!" Lina exclaimed, nearly falling over from shock. "What in the hell are you doing working for that jerk?"

"It's a job, isn't it?" Amelia replied. "Besides, I get paid well and can stay nearer to you and Mr. Kurt. I'm willing to put up with Mr. Graywords if it means that I can be closer to my two best friends."

"Do you have your own apartment or something? I know you can't still live out here," Lina said, sitting down on one of the empty counter-tops.

"I'm staying with Mr. Kurt until Friday. Then I can move into my own apartment."

"Amelia, have you been avoiding me or something...?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"It is just... you haven't been telling me stuff like you used to," Lina said morosely. "Ever since that game where I flipped out and yelled at you, there has just been distance between us."

"Don't worry Miss Lina," Amelia assured. "I only wanted to give you some space to cool off. Mr. Kurt agreed with me about it."

"Yeah, I've noticed that he hasn't been his normal self lately," Lina smirked, feeling much better about herself. "I was beginning to think that the two of you might have broken up or something."

"We did, but that wouldn't be the reason he would seem distant."

"Alright! Now you have crossed the line!" Lina bellowed as she slammed her clenched fist into the counter. "What is all this about? I thought you two were a perfect little couple! What gives? I had it figured out and everything goes defunct! Do you people hate me or something?"

"No, we just thought our relationship was better off if we stayed friends," Amelia answered, walking over to the sink to wash off the melon-carving knife. "It was a mutual decision. We were beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable the way we were."

"Well, now that makes three of us," Lina muttered.

"What? Are you saying that it made you uncomfortable to see Mr. Kurt and me as a couple?"

"Yes. You two were positively vile together."

"You are absolutely no fun Lina Inverse," Amelia laughed as she tore open a bag of potato chips and poured the contents of the bag into a large bowl. "Now please be useful and bring the watermelon and chips out to the picnic table."

"Sure thing Amelia," Lina smiled, knowing she had her old friend back again. When she came back into the house from putting the food out on the porch table, a strange arm snagged her by the neck and the perpetrator began giving Lina a brotherly hair-messing while keeping her in a headlock.

"Welcome back!" Kurt chuckled as Lina squirmed free. "I heard that you and Miss Amelia made up and are friends again!"

"Yeah, now will you stop doing that?"

"Whatever," Kurt chuckled as he grabbed the paper plates and plasticware from the wooden kitchen table and headed for the door. "Hey Miss Amelia, where did your dad go? He was here fifteen minutes ago."

"Oh, Daddy's going over to Mr. Farquain's house to spend the day with him and his wife. Sander is coming over later with Martin and his two friends Dalton and Tammy."

"Tammy... isn't that the name of the only girl that ever hangs out around those two high school weirdos?" Lina asked with a laugh as she took the lighter fluid and matches for the grill outside. It was tradition for her to grill the hotdogs and relished in the important duty until it became nearly sickening for Amelia.

"Yeah, she is, the poor thing," Amelia sighed as she followed Lina out with the hot dog buns. "Oh... Kurt, can you please get us the hotdogs? They are sitting on the table on a plate and I forgot them."

"Sure thing," Kurt said happily as he went back inside the house. After a short while, he appeared out the back door again, a large plate of uncooked hotdogs in his hands. As he walked down the back porch steps, Shiran bounded up playfully and began pawing up at Kurt in order to procure the hotdogs for herself. Kurt attempted to side-step the jovial dog, yet he instantly began to lose his balance. Once Shiran put her large paws up on his chest did both man and dog tumble into the grass and send the hotdogs flying with ease, creating an ungodly mess.

"Hey there!" Sander said as he walked into the backyard for the party, closely followed by Martin, Dalton and a dyed-blonde-haired teenage girl who held a bowl of bright blue gelatin. The scene they came upon was one of pure chaos. Uncooked hotdogs were strewn everywhere, particularly over Lina and Amelia. Shiran had Kurt pinned to the ground and was excessively licking his face, attempting to remove the slimy preservatives from the hotdogs that had splashed upon his face.

"Oh my," said the girl who stood between Martin and Dalton, taken aback by the scene. Her two friends on their side of her stood there with their mouths agape, not having seen anything like the current scene before.

"Hi, you must be Tammy," Amelia smiled, noticing her taken aback company. She went over to the girl and shook her hand. "My name is Amelia. Welcome."

"Did we come at a bad time Amelia...?" Sander asked, noticing how Lina was cursing violently as she picked the ruined hotdogs out of the lawn.

"No," Kurt said, shoving Shiran off of him and standing up straight. "Lina just has a bit of issues she needs to work out with the menu first." He paused for a moment when Lina accidentally threw a hotdog at the back of his head in her rage. Tammy, Dalton and Martin snickered as Kurt's face went to an annoyed blank as the hotdog struck him. Then, the girl's face went to an awed expression as she looked at Kurt.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you from somewhere?" she asked. Kurt's eyebrow twitched as he came up with what the girl could have possibly meant.

"Um... I don't recall meeting you before, if that's what you mean..."

"No, like I've seen you, but haven't met you..."

"Then you must be thinking of someone else!" Kurt panicked. He went and tried to hide behind Amelia, yet failed miserably due to their vast differences in height.

"Ooookay..." Tammy sighed, contemplating why she even agreed to accompany Dalton and Martin to the party. "I'll go put the dessert away." She walked off into the house, followed closely by Martin and Dalton, leaving the eldest of the group to deal with Lina.

"Calm down Lina," Sander sighed halfheartedly as Lina threw one of the ruined hotdogs towards the woods for Shiran to go and catch. The dog happily barked as it disappeared into the trees looking for the lost hotdog.

"Who ever said that I needed to calm down?" Lina asked, a very disturbing smile creeping across her face. Sander took a healthy step backwards and positioned himself behind the height of Kurt.

"Hey, I may be the tallest here, but I am not a human shield," Kurt protested as Sander hid behind him. Kurt jumped out of the way and Sander hopped back behind him.

"What? Are you afraid of me Sander?" Lina laughed.

"Yes. Quite frankly, I know how physically violent you can be."

"Well, so does our manager," Kurt said in an as-matter-of-fact voice. "Poor old Wanker just gets abused everywhere he goes, doesn't he Lina?"

"Damn straight!" Lina agreed, giving her teammate the thumbs-up. "…and I'm usually the one doing the abusing!"

"Really Miss Lina, I don't get why you take pride in being violent all the time," Amelia scolded. "What is so great about being able to beat up that creep anyways?"

"It is what helps me stay on the friendlier side of the rest of my team," Lina explained. "If they ostracize me even more, then suspicions will come about and I might be investigated and well... there would go my salary. I'd be fired and even worse, probably the butt of every sports bar joke for years."

"So a priest, a rabbi and Lina Inverse walk into a bar..." Kurt started, trying to make fun of Lina's comment. All he got in return was a sharp kick in the shin from the fuming redhead.

"You idiot..." Amelia and Sander muttered at the same time as Kurt hopped up and down on his uninjured leg. Lina chortled in sadistic delight as she watched her victim suffer, then went over to the picnic table on the porch and ate some watermelon with relish. This was Independence Day at one of best of times for Lina and sure was... enjoying it to the fullest. Suddenly, as Amelia, Kurt and Sander walked up to the table and sat down the telephone inside began to ring. Fairly quickly, the ringing stopped and there was dead silence.

"Oi, Lina," Martin said, poking his head out the back door. "Tammy's got your boss on the phone. He says it's something really important..."

"Damn Wanker. How'd he get this number...?" Lina growled as she marched in the house. Ten seconds after she had vanished from sight, those outside heard a very loud and excited squeal come from the kitchen and the three high school friends rushed out of the kitchen, clearly afraid of something.

"What's wrong?" Sander asked. He stood up and opened the back screen door. As he stepped forward, Lina came out of nowhere and tackled him so that he laid flat out on the wooden porch deck.

"I made it! I made it! I made it! I made it! I made it!" Lina cheered as she kept Sander pinned to the floor.

"Lina, I thought we went through this already once before!" Sander whined.

"This is even bigger than me getting into the ball club!" Lina replied, eyes bright with excitement.

"What could possibly be better than getting into the ball club Lina?" Amelia asked, wondering what it was her friend was excited about. Lina looked over at Amelia and Kurt's questioning faces and grinned widely as she gave her simple reply.

"All Star Game."

* * *

**Things To Know**

The Seiryuun Residence: I wanted to model it after a country-style home from around the turn of the twentieth century when there were no cars and people sat outside on their porches and had fun out there.

Shiran: Taken from Dreamsinger's superb fanfiction _Only Stone On the Outside_. I so wish I owned this ickle doggie, yet I do not. She does. I wish to honor her with this reference, since I admire her story greatly. Read her fiction and discover more about the dragonwolf (and her insane story that is like a new season or two of _Slayers _all on its lonesome). It's only ninety chapters long!

Dialogue: I like to tell the story with dialogue rampages. Sorry if this seemed to... drag the story along kicking and screaming.

Sander: So apparently, I had him in on the whole "Lina is Liam" thing, so he doesn't freak out when they get to the party. He also briefed the high schoolers before they went over, just incase.

Kurt's Joke: Not a very good one, I know. He's the kind of guy who makes up the cruddy jokes like that everyone hears in bars or in school.


	14. All Star Break From Hell!

Why does everybody hate Kurt-kun so much? I know he's just a stupid guy... but does his character really suck _that _bad? Come on! You people are mean. -whimper- I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Fan Fest, Pittsburgh, my reviewers and other random things since this is just a bloody fanfiction. Oh... this is my birthday present to all my reviewers! The yayness of being seventeen! -grins- Now if only I didn't have standardized testing today at school, everything would be perfect.

* * *

Juu-yon

_All Star Break From Hell! That Damn Blond Again!_

Lina stared at the crowd and frowned, disliking the vast multitude of people that were present. It was July 10th and she was at the All Star Fan Fest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The next day, she would be playing in the 2006 All Star Game for the American League. Baseball fanatics from all over the country, as well as Canada and even the rest of the world, submitted their votes to determine who would be elected to play and Lina had just barely obtained enough votes to play back-up shortstop on the American team. Granted she was not yet one of the more popular athletes, yet she got in all the same.

"Isn't this great Lina?" Kurt asked excitedly. Lina simply sighed and gave her wig a slight one-handed adjustment. Her boisterous teammate had volunteered to accompany Lina to Pittsburgh in order for her to stay slightly more "low key" and make rational decisions. The only problem with that was that the man was one of the furthest things from "low key" someone could possibly get without being arrested, creating a scene similar to a 6' 2" boy seeing a candy store for the first time.

"Come on you damn geek," Lina snapped as she dragged Kurt away from a kiosk with a large assortment of vintage baseball cards that was making him drool. There were many different kinds of stands throughout the convention center the Fan Fest was being held in; the flavors of the many different teams forcing the event to flourish with life. "It is embarrassing taking you anywhere, did you know that?"

"Me-ow. Look who's feeling a bit catty today," Kurt replied as he mockingly clawed the air. Lina shot him an acidic glare, forcing him to recoil.

"Shut up."

"What's up with you? If anything, you should be... what's the word I'm looking for here... elated... about the fact that you are even here in the first place. I didn't even get my name on the voting ballot."

"You could have been a write-in," Lina said casually as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, well, that didn't happen now, did it?" Kurt groaned as he adjusted his brown Indiana Jones-style hat to conceal his face a bit better. Ever since spending Independence Day at Amelia's family home in Nowhere, he felt a bit paranoid about accidently being recognized. Lina kept on telling him that Dalton, Martin or Tammy could care less about him being there, yet the man was still skittish about the whole ordeal.

"Why don't you try a different get-up," Lina laughed as she looked up at Kurt and his hat obsessing habit. She had thought of it as odd for herself to wander around wearing long blue jeans on the sweltering day, yet she nearly burst into tears laughing when she had first seen the tanned leather hat sitting on her friend's head. "You know, a leather coat, a bullwhip and an annoying Asian kid named Shorty at your side and you'll be all set!"

"Ha, ha, very funny Lina. Just for that, I should be teasing you about wandering around in women's clothes for once."

"Don't you even start," Lina threatened. Her fist clenched and Kurt took a healthy step away from the fuming woman.

"Please don't hurt me."

"Then shut up."

Afterwards, there was an awkward silence as they silently walked through the convention center. Memorabilia from all of the different baseball teams littered the background. The local ice hockey team the Penguins and the recent Super Bowl champion Steelers even had their own different small homages across the area. There were kiosks dedicated to the All Star Game sponsors nearly everywhere one dared to look. Batting cages and pitching challenges were set up for small children to have fun and try their luck with, as well as for the older patrons to attempt to do well. A video game booth was set up with all different kinds of baseball-themed games that a horde of teenage boys were crowding around. Random people everywhere were eating food and Lina and Kurt even had to side-step an upset container of cheese nachos when they passed the "food court", which was basically just a small cluster of vendor stands set up in a corner of the convention center.

"Umm... Lina...?" Kurt asked after a short while of observing their surroundings in silence.

"Yeah?"

"You remember that game where you froze up and couldn't bat right?"

"I thought we put that behind us. I didn't play the rest of the series and that was it. Why do you ask?" Lina replied sourly.

"Just... erm... don't look to the left, alright?" Kurt said nervously, trying to be helpful the best he could. On a subconscious impulse, Lina disobeyed, snapping her gaze to the left only to halt dead in her tracks.

There, playing wiffle-ball with some pre-school aged children, was none other than Gourry Gabriev.

_Damn it... I can't move again! _Lina swore as she felt her face become hot with blushing blood. She knew that she was staring, but there was nothing she could do about it. The feeling she had was just like when she had choked up at the bat, except this time, there was no pressure for her to do anything while in her inert state. Something deep inside her melted when she saw one of the small children accidently smash one of the white plastic balls into Gourry's face. Gourry just smiled and patted the child on the head to assure him that he was fine, though the large red spot on his forehead clearly said that he wasn't. Time seemed to go in slow motion as she stood there, staring at him, until...

"Lina!" Kurt whined, shaking her shoulder and attempting to bring her back.

"What...?" she replied, her voice far-off and vacant.

"You look like a fangirl."

_**SNAP**_

"FANGIRL! Me! How dare you!" Lina yelled, returning to her violent self and punching Kurt in the arm. "I am the one they call 'Bloody Mary' for heaven's sake! Why in the Nine hells would I be a fangirl!"

"Only if you cannot help it," Kurt smiled, gingerly rubbing his arm. "Good thing that no one saw you besides me."

"I guess," Lina agreed rather sheepishly. "What's a really good thing is that Amelia's not here. She'd be teasing me."

"Miss Amelia wouldn't do that," Kurt disagreed with a shake of his head. "She would simply physically drag you away."

"Yeah, I should have checked the roster though for the National League team. I bet that Gabriev is on the team," Lina scoffed as she and Kurt began to walk away. "Anyways, did you see him playing with those midgets? I would never have had the patience for that in a million years."

"I highly doubt that four and five-year-olds qualify as being considered 'midgets', Lina. They aren't even fully grown yet..."

"Well, they're shorter than me at this very moment and that's all I really need to know," Lina started. She was about to continue when a voice from deep within her memory cut through the air and made her jerk to a stop.

"Hey Lina! Lina Inverse!"

"Aw, hell no…" Lina moaned as she turned around. A woman with vividly red hair about her age ran up and energetically shook her hand.

"Remember me Lina?" she asked excitedly.

"How could I ever forget you?"

"Hey Lina, who is this?" the woman and Kurt seemed to ask in sync as they pointed at each other.

"Kurt, this is Maliska Macrony. She went to a high school that was close to mine and she also happened to play on the baseball team for her school. Maliska, this is my friend Kurt…"

"You mean Kurt Fuchs, the rookie centerfielder for the Portland Slayers?" Maliska squealed. Blood rushed to Kurt's face as the enthusiasm the stranger showed increased at the mere mention of his name. "I follow the Portland Slayers closely, since it is my 'hometown team' in a way. Oh, Lina, I even saw that your cousin Liam had made the team in the open try-outs."

"My cous...in…?"

"Yeah, Liam Inverse is your cousin, isn't he? The two of you look so much alike that you could be twins and I don't think you have a brother," Maliska noted, a slight bit of confusion in her voice.

"He sure is her cousin," Kurt blurted before Lina could react. "The two could be siblings, but they're not! Sometimes I even call them by the wrong name because they are so similar!"

"You know Liam Inverse?" Maliska asked, her eyes growing wide in admiration.

"Of course! We are teammates after all," Kurt laughed heartily. Lina elbowed him in the side, forcing him to be quiet.

"So what have you been up to all this time Maliska?" Lina inquired in order to change the subject. She shot Kurt an acidic glare that told him loud and clear: _Stop trying to make things better! They are only getting worse!_

"School to be a nurse; accelerated courses," she replied frankly. "I can guess what you and your boyfriend are doing here… am I right…?" Lina's face went bright red as Maliska gave her a sly wink.

"Boyfriend!"

"Miss Maliska, you can't possibly mean me, can you?" Kurt asked as Lina stood there with her mouth agape, clearly disgusted with the idea of her being with Kurt.

"Oh! You two are just friends, aren't you?" Maliska gasped in embarrassment. "I am so sorry! I just assumed…"

"Don't worry about it," Kurt said with a forgiving smile. "This happens all the time."

"No it doesn't," Lina interjected.

"Anyways, I think it is great that you traveled this far to help support your cousin, Lina!" Maliska added. "Liam must be very lucky to have you as his cousin. I bet there are not many people like you out there."

"I guess so," Lina muttered guiltily. Luckily, Maliska was too thrown into the moment to notice the tone change in Lina's voice.

"Hey, do you think you can introduce me to your cousin, Lina?" Maliska requested. Lina stood there in silence, not sure about how to answer her.

"Maybe some other time," Kurt said once he realized that his friend was tongue-tied. "He had to go to a players' meeting and will be gone for a long time. We might not be able to see him again until after the game tomorrow, and that is even a big chance to take."

"Oh, alright! I guess it is nothing that any of us can control," Maliska said, slightly disappointed, yet understanding at the same time. "I guess I will talk to you some other time then."

"Right! See you later!" Lina said hurriedly as she dragged away Kurt. She did not let go of his wrist until they were safely hidden behind a very tall collector's card kiosk.

"What was with you back there?" Kurt asked angrily. "You just stood there like an idiot. Is that how you are going to act every time a familiar face pops out of the crowd?"

"No, but she is one of the ones that are sharp enough to piece everything together. I was really nervous that Maliska would figure _it _out," Lina whispered, wary of the card vendor on the other side of the display area. "Nothing against her, but I don't know her well enough to trust her with my secret. It is so big, I even feel guilty having you and Amelia know."

"Okay. What I don't get though is how you can live like you are Lina. Don't you ever get the urge to scream out everything to the world and tell them who you really are?"

"Kurt my good friend... you have absolutely no idea."

"You're right. I don't have any idea," Kurt agreed. He began to casually walk away from Lina in the direction of the large display of Minor League team sweaters for sale. "What do I know? I'm just myself and all..."

"Now you are just saying that to get on my nerves," Lina said as she began to follow her teammate.

"How can you tell?"

"I do the same thing with Wanker to piss him off."

"The Mazoku Bastard?"

"Yup," Lina laughed as they entered the Minor League display. Once there, they wandered about for a bit and then moved on to another display. It was like "Cooperstown yet fairer" according to Lina as they wandered around the convention center and when they were finally forced to leave at ten o'clock that night, Lina was a bit more confident about the game ahead of her and what it would bring.

* * *

**Things To Know**

All Star Fan Fest: Taken from personal experience in 2005 when the All-Star Game and the events connected to it came to Detroit. I wish that everyone could have gone. I went to Fan Fest and made various complaints about how they had no Tigers hats. When they showed me stuff for the Detroit Tigers, I decided to be difficult and request _Hanshin _Tigers hats. They didn't have any and I think the vendors were angry with me with my spiffy Inuyasha hat.

Maliska: I do not own the Maliska. She is one of the members of Gerao-A, the only member I had yet to mention in this fanfiction until now.

"Cooperstown Yet Fairer": That is my own opinion. Do not trust the opinion of the Nehszriah, for my views can be different from your own... and most likely are. You see, I went to Cooperstown (National Baseball Hall of Fame) one year during Summer Break and found that it was like a New York Yankees shrine. Well, more like a Yankees vs Red Sox shrine, which became very irritating at times. I think I was lucky to have found my "Briggs Stadium" shirt there at the gift shop. I hate the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry to death.


	15. Level up!

**IT'S FINALLY OPENING DAY!** After waiting patiently for months, Tigers baseball is starting up once more! -squee- I even gots me the Sports Illustrated with synopses of all the teams. Can you believe that they are already predicting White Sox over Cardinals for the World Series? The nerve. All I can say is that it won't be like that in my fiction! I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, my reviewers or chance meetings via the local bar. Off to the television I go!

* * *

Juu-go

_Level up! Random Encounter Approaches!_

A few weeks had passed since the Major League Baseball All Star Game and things were quiet again. The All Star Game had been one of not-too-epic proportions, being that it had to be postponed due to rain and then ended up being simply something to aggravate Lina further. A few of her more ignorant teammates on the American League team made fun of her constantly for being "just a rookie" and that she was there "because everyone else on the Slayers suck". After nearly maiming one of them with her bat, Lina ended up in a horrible mood all game and was played for only a few minutes total. It was not something she easily brushed off and Kurt (as well as poor Xellos) got the brunt of her anger by dealing with her testy temperament. By now though, Lina was feeling a bit better and decided to get something to drink after a game in Chicago where the Slayers beat the White Sox. She walked into the sports bar and sat down at the counter where the barkeep was. Keeping her eyes down, she took a peanut from a bowl that had been set out upon the countertop for the customers. She threw the peanut shell on the floor with what seemed like the shells of many other a customer and sighed.

"Can I help you Miss?" the bartender asked congenially. Lina looked at him, blinked absentmindedly and then realized again why she was there.

"Do you have Moosehead?"

"No."

"Then give me a Bud," she said as the bartender walked off towards where he kept the beer bottles.

_What am I going to do?_ Lina thought to herself. The bartender brought back the Budweiser and left her to the drink. She took a swig of the beer to calm her nerves. _I need to figure out a way for me to become immune to that Gabriev man! We play the Gladiators in five days and I don't know what I am going to do. It would be too suspicious if I don't play the entire series, but it would be even more suspicious if I freeze up at the plate like that again. Maybe I can have Murdoc or Jan pinch-hit for me. That would be a good solution. I know they don't want to start those games. Wait a second… maybe they don't want to play period. That wouldn't be very good. They are the two best pinch-hitters on the team aside from Aaron, but he's starting. Damn it all!_

Lina began nervously cracking her fingers as she looked around the bar. It was a normal enough establishment and it seemed as if there was a group of men in the corner complaining about the afternoon ball game earlier in which she played the Chicago White Sox. The game had been tight, but the Slayers had come out on top due to Lina hitting a sacrifice fly that allowed Kurt to run in home, winning the game after ten innings. That was three hours ago already and it seemed as if the White Sox fans were still a bit riled at their defeat. It did not matter though, for Lina knew the bumpkins would not recognize her unless they came three inches from her face. As long as she stayed on the other side of the bar, their presence posed no threat.

Lina began cracking open another peanut shell when the door to the bar swung open and the room got quiet. Thinking it was better to just keep to her own business, she kept on eating the peanut and took another in turn. It was apparent that someone undesired walked in, for there was a hint of spite in the bartender's voice as he spoke.

"What shall it be, sir?"

"I'll have a Molson please," a voice said. Lina could tell by the depth and intensity of the voice that it was a man of about her age, maybe a little older, standing right next to her. She looked over carefully to confirm her suspicions. Yes, there was a rather tall and athletic-seeming man now sitting on the barstool next to hers. She did not look up to see his face, but just turned her glance back over to the bowl of peanuts and took a few more.

"Excuse me Miss," the man next to Lina asked. "Do you know of any good restaurants around here? I am afraid I am not familiar with the area. I'm here on business."

"Really? So am I," Lina replied unenthusiastically as she took another sip of her beer. "I just walked in here because it served beer. I'm probably going to get some pizza later."

"Funny. Me too."

"So then, where are you here from? Detroit? New York? Seattle?" Lina asked, trying to be a good conversationalist.

"Knoxville. Why? What about you?"

"Portland."

"Must be nice to see your hometown team play while you are away," the man said happily as his Molson came. Lina could see him pick it up out of the corner of her eye. He must have known something about baseball to know there was a baseball team in from there. Then again, since the first time the Slayers and the Gladiators first met, the teams had been huge rivals and fans followed both teams just to keep tabs an one another.

"Team?" Lina decided to play the fool this time around.

"Yeah. I heard that the Portland Slayers were in town playing the White Sox. Didn't you know?"

"No," Lina lied.

"Not into baseball?"

"Only a little, not really enough to care though."

"It's a shame," the man said. "You seem like a nice person and I was hoping to get into a bit of a conversation with you. Baseball is pretty much about the extent of my knowledge on anything."

_At least he's honest while he flirts_, Lina thought with a small laugh. She then decided to look over at the man next to her. With a small squeak, she nearly fell off her stool in surprise.

There was Gourry Gabriev, sitting next to her and smiling as if nothing in the world could have phased him.

It took a double take to make sure she was not imagining him. He was definitely there alright; there was no denying it. Long blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, tall, sturdy… yet Lina was not frozen. She sat a bit more comfortable on her stool and cleared her throat.

"Sorry about that," she coughed, face turning beet red. "I just did not expect to see you here…"

"Why? Do you know me somehow?"

"You are Gourry Gabriev of the Knoxville Gladiators, are you not?"

"Yes, but I thought you said that you didn't like baseball."

"I just said that I didn't like it enough to care that the Slayers were in town. I never said that I was disinterested enough to not know anything about baseball. You are the leader in strikeouts for rookie pitchers in the National League!" Lina said. She began to panic, thinking she might have overdone it a little bit. Now she knew why he was not greeted well when he had entered the bar: the Gladiators must have beaten the Chicago Cubs earlier that day while she was beating the White Sox!

"I am?" Gourry asked, a slight bit embarrassed at Lina's outburst. "Oh, yeah… I guess I am. I remember Coach saying something about that. Thanks for reminding me!"

"How come you forgot something as big as that?" Lina asked skeptically. Gourry scratched the back of his head nervously and gave a small laugh.

"I never have had the best memory and I'm not the smartest man around. I'm just lucky that I can pitch, otherwise I wouldn't be of any use to anyone."

_Ooookay. He's being just a bit _too_ honest now. How come he made me freeze up at the plate in Knoxville and at the All Star Fan Fest? Now if only I can figure that part out, I'd be all set for next week's series,_ Lina sighed mentally. She looked up at him and saw the lax smile on his face and was tempted to smile herself. A feeling of being at peace came upon her. The worry and tension that had been welled inside her about facing his pitching prowess again had melted away. It was a miracle.

"I wouldn't go around admitting that to random people on the street you know," Lina laughed as she took another drink of beer and finished off her bottle. "The sportswriters would be talking."

"Eh, I don't care," Gourry said casually. "If they have nothing else better to talk about, then it is their problem."

_That sounded intelligent enough to me. I think he is a horrible liar or really an idiot._

"So then, you don't really care about the writers and critics then?" Lina asked. "Rumors are nothing?"

"Of course! Can you believe that there are some people who think that I am involved romantically with one of the men from the Portland team because he froze up at the plate during our last game? I cringed when I first heard that suspicion. What was his name again? Invert…? Inertia…?"

"Liam Inverse," Lina replied, blushing even more ferociously than before. "I heard that rumor too." In all reality, she hadn't heard that rumor and was taken by surprise.

"Yeah. I can't remember the man and there are people who say I _like_ him. That's just gross, you know? At least introduce me to the man…" He took a giant gulp of his beer and half the bottle disappeared. "So, you know me. What's your name?"

"L-L-Lina."

"Lina? That's a nice name."

"Thanks... I think."

"Do you have a last name, or are you like that Confusing guy and only have one?"

"You mean 'Confucius', right?"

"Him, yup."

"Yeah I got myself a last name; it's Inverse."

"Lina Inverse… why does that sound so familiar…?"

"I don't know," Lina smirked.

_Good Lord, he seriously does not remember what we were talking about five seconds ago! This guy really is an idiot._

There was a distinct pause in their conversation. Lina ate a few more peanuts and Gourry finished off his beer. The quiet that was between them was nerve-wracking for Lina. She did not know if Gourry was even really as stupid as he seemed, or if he was just acting. The silence became nearly unbearable when words seemed to come out of Lina's mouth on their own will.

"Do you want to have dinner with me…?"

"What…?"

"Ah shit!" Lina gasped. Gourry looked over at her and discovered that Lina was covering her mouth with her hands with a shocked look on her face.

"Did you not mean to say that?"

Lina shook her head. "Not really."

"Why not go out? At least we won't be alone for the night, right?"

"I guess..."

"Fine! Then let's go!" Gourry said happily as he lay the money for his beer on the counter by the empty bottle. Lina did the same and they both headed towards the door.

It was strange, Lina thought, how Gourry could not even barely come to grips with the fact that they had already "met" before. Shrugging it off, she decided to let him take her out to dinner. Once a suitable pizzeria was located, both Lina and Gourry ate two deep-dish pizzas each, which was a lot considering they were in Chicago. They would have had thirds, but it was getting late and since Gourry had a game and Lina a "business meeting" the next day, they decided that they should go back to their respective hotels. To Lina's surprise though, Gourry wanted to drag out their date for as long as he could and decided to walk her to her hotel.

"Hey Lina," he said as they walked along the sidewalk.

"Yeah Gourry?"

"What do you do that takes you all the way over her from Portland?"

"I am a…" Lina began. She paused mid-sentence and her mind began racing to find an excuse to give. "I am a business representative…?"

"Wow! That's cool!" Gourry replied, completely buying the lie. He opened up the door to the hotel building and let Lina in.

"Well, goodbye Gourry," Lina said, trying her best not to blush.

"Alright, see you!" Gourry replied. Without another word, the pitcher walked off and left Lina alone in the lobby. Then, out of nowhere, the redhead cursed.

"Damn it!" she muttered to herself. "I still didn't find out what made me freeze at the plate! Curse you Gourry Gabriev! I shall get you one of these days! Believe it!"

* * *

**Things To Know**

What Happened to the All Star Game?: It died. I did not wish to force myself to write it, predict who would be in said game other than Lina and Gourry, revert to asking my little brother for help and completely feel like a fool once the All Star Game does come around.

Moosehead: Yes, that is a type of beer along with the plainly obvious Molson and Budweiser. For some reason, I feel like I shouldn't know about alcohol period, but I do. Lina and Gourry are of age after all.

The Ending: Yeah, I know it was a bit abrupt, but I had to end it, lest have the chapter fall victim to my horrid writer's block. I already am freaking out over if I will run out of chapters or not. I only have up to chapter seventeen fully written. That's not good.


	16. Dinner For Two!

So has anyone out there ever get one chapter done of a fanfiction, finish another, but have a whole chapter's worth of story completely unwritten in-between? That is the current fate of the Nehszriah. I implore the plot bunnies for moral support! -is pummeled with stuffed bunnies- I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, death, painful childhood trauma or the chili-cheese fries of doomage that I can eat all day if necessary.

Pre-Chapter Notes: Maria is pronounced mar-EE-ah, not marie-ah. Just think of how a Japanese person would say it. I watched two episodes of _Gungrave _and fell in love with the pronunciation.

* * *

Juu-roku

_Dinner For Two! Chimera's Lament!_

Amelia walked into the office and sat down at her desk. The clock had not yet struck eight and the neat and orderly desk she had left the night before had transformed into a large-scale mess of forms, memos and other miscellaneous papers that made poor Amelia want to cry in despair.

"You are late," she heard Zelgadis say right behind her. She jumped and saw him standing in the doorway to his office.

"L-Late Mr. Graywords?" Amelia asked nervously. "I was under the impression that getting here an hour before nine was early."

"I changed the hours yesterday. Be in by eight-thirty or you are late."

"I am sorry sir, but you never informed me."

"Then I must have been thinking about it. Why did you not figure it out?"

"I am a secretary Mr. Graywords, not a mind reader," Amelia sighed, quite disheartened at the mess before her. She was just about to dive into the mound of paperwork on her desk when another rather large stack of papers landed in front of her.

"I hope you do not mind all of this paperwork Miss Seiryuun, but I am in the process of expanding the business to include a publishing sector and the work is a bit too much for me to handle alone." With that, Zelgadis gave a wry, sarcastic smile and disappeared into his office, closing the door behind him and leaving Amelia to her work.

_This is insanity!_ Amelia thought as she looked over the topmost page of the new stack of papers. _Great. He is having me take care of his business with the Slayers. Miss Lina was right. I must have been loony to accept this job… doesn't he realize that Amelia Wil Tesla Seiryuun is only one person? I guess not._

Sighing heavily, Amelia got to work. She knew at that point that she would have to work straight through lunch just to get catch up with all the backwork.

**80808080808080808**

Amelia let out a relieved sigh as she inspected her desk. It was clean and devoid of all the stray papers that had littered it previously throughout the day. Ten minutes before six and her work was finally done! The work had worn her out, with all of the sorting, filing and delivering of different papers to various other workers in the small building, but the feeling she had was one of great accomplishment. She picked up her purse from underneath the desk and began to walk towards the door to go home.

"Miss Seiryuun," Zelgadis said, stopping Amelia in her tracks. Amelia reluctantly turned around to see her boss standing in the doorway to his office with a serious look upon his face. "Would you mind if I had a few words with you?"

"No problem Mr. Graywords," Amelia said.

_What did I do? Better yet... what did I _not _do?_

"Please sit down," Zelgadis requested as Amelia followed him into his office. She warily obeyed and sat in a chair as Zelgadis took his own seat behind his desk.

"Is everything alright, sir?"

"I am not quite sure yet. How long have you been working for me Miss Seiryuun?"

"About a month's time."

"I see… I've noticed you seem a bit overloaded with the work I have given you, have you not?"

"Only a little," Amelia admitted softly. She directed her eyes down to her hands that were folded in her lap.

_It's my performance…_ she thought. _He must not think I am really up to the challenge. Oh no…Please don't be mad…_

"I am... sorry," Zelgadis said, an apparent strain in his voice. Amelia looked up and saw that her boss had a far-off look upon his face, eyes directed at the picture frame on his desk. "Even though you were the best candidate, I should have realized that you were only a novice at being a secretary and given you at least a little bit of a break…"

"…Mr. Graywords… I…"

"Hey, I apologized, alright!" Zelgadis snapped, making Amelia jump slightly. "It's hard enough doing that!" Amelia looked back down at her hands, embarrassed for Zelgadis's outburst.

_He sounds really tense_, she thought. _It is kind of scary. He's never tried to act this nice before._

"…so I would like to make it up to you for being so demanding…" Zelgadis muttered, taking Amelia completely by surprise. His spine gave a quick shudder. It was not his fault Rezzo had taught him from when he first started working that being kind to employees, secretaries in particular, was highly important. Having a capable and pleasant staff was one of the things that would help him succeed in life and excel to places beyond his dreams. Zelgadis had seen the importance of this with Frances, for she had truly helped him to excel. He also saw that Amelia was definitely nothing like his former lover. She seemed to be too young-at-heart to be like Frances and Zelgadis did not want to completely ruin her confidence.

"Mr. Graywords, I am not quite sure what you mean…"

"Dinner… only as coworkers… if you want…" he said as if he was trying to distract himself from what he was saying.

"I guess it would be alright. I know a restaurant that has some of the absolute best food around!"

"Then lead the way Miss Seiryuun," Zelgadis replied as he stood up and walked over towards his open office door. He felt a little better, as if a weight had been lifted from inside him. Amelia felt slightly more at ease too, yet both of them were wary about the situation they were getting themselves into.

**80808080808080808**

"Is something wrong Mr. Graywords?" Amelia asked over her menu. Zelgadis glanced over the top of his own and replied frankly.

"I don't usually go to places like this, so I'm not all that sure about what I want to eat."

"What do you usually eat?"

"Thai, Chinese or Italian when I am out. Whatever I can find in the house when I don't want take-out."

"There's spaghetti and lasagna on the menu."

"I don't want that though."

"Is there any kind of food you don't like?"

"No…"

"Then I'll order for you," Amelia proudly said. Zelgadis muttered his approval and began to stare off into space as Amelia waved down the diner waitress so she could order food. The old greasepot diner was surprising at first, yet now that he was in the old relic, Zelgadis was beginning to have flashbacks to when he was a child and his family was still alive. Back when his mother would take him to places like this all the time.

_He could see his mother sitting in a booth down the aisle. Her face showed the strain single motherhood had painfully brought her. His younger self sat in the seat opposite her, unaware of his mother's sorrows. The pair were content as they ate. Maria Graywords knew already that she was dying, but did not want her only child to worry. That day, she would take young Zelgadis to visit with his grandfather while she went to the hospital with her mother for the doctors to do some tests…_

"Mr. Graywords?"

"Hmm…?" Zelgadis snapped out of his reverie and back to the present. He looked over at Amelia, who was drinking some cherry cola.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked.

"No," Zelgadis said, staring off towards an empty booth in the diner. "I was just lost in a memory."

"A memory Mr. Graywords? I hope it is a happy one."

"Bittersweet. My memories are bittersweet in nearly every single way."

"Even the ones from childhood?"

"They are only saddened now due to the fact that I can look upon the events without a child's blind faith. I now know why things were the way they were back then and I am angry at the reasoning behind them."

"Life is funny that way," Amelia agreed. "When the lies of adults are revealed to a child's thoughts, those thoughts are forever changed."

"At least you understand somewhat," Zelgadis said as the food came. The surly waitress almost slammed down a rather large plate filled with an enormous cheeseburger and a side order of greasy french fries, smothered in chili and melted cheese. A similar plate was set in front of Amelia and once the waitress left, the famished young woman dug into her burger with complete relish.

_I didn't realize that she ordered me this_, Zelgadis pondered as he picked up his fork and began eating the chili-cheese fries. _I can't remember when exactly the last time I ever had food like this was. Frances never would have settled for eating this. This would have been too "unhealthy" for her to take. In fact, this whole place would probably have made her keel over._ He then took his cheeseburger and began to consume that. As he went to take a third bite, he froze right before he sank his teeth into the food. His memories attacked him once more, this time being as painful as possible.

_It had been a year since the scene in the diner. Eleven-year-old Zelgadis sat in a room in the hospital, next to his mother's bed, distraught about the only parent he ever knew. After leaving Zelgadis with Rezzo that one day, Maria and her mother Eris had unwillingly gotten into a car accident when the red traffic light was run in front of the hospital by a careless young driver. Eris had been killed instantly as a result of the crash. Maria was hospitalized with severe injuries and her health was permanently compromised more than ever before. It was a slow spiral downward that enveloped Maria's entire body. Knowing all and any attempt at survival would be destroyed by her own failing immune system, she had decided to say her final good-bye to her son and let the icy hand of death take her away._

"_Mom, where's Dad?" young Zelgadis asked her. "You told me he always has to work far away. Why can't he come here and see you in the hospital?"_

"_He will never come back, son," Maria sighed heavily. "I hate to say it Zelgadis, but your father doesn't want us. He left before you were even born."_

_Young Zelgadis was rendered speechless. He had always been told that his father was off in far-away places, wanting badly to come home yet was always delayed somehow. It felt like a miracle to Maria that she was able to pull the wool over her sharp son's eyes for so long, for she never wanted her son to grow up loathing the man she would have very willingly called "husband" and the father of her child. Now, Zelgadis knew the only truth in the lies that had accumulated over the long years was that his father was far away._

"_I want you to take good care of your grandfather, Zelgadis," Maria requested, a wan smile forming on her lips as a last show for young Zelgadis. She was feeling the effects of being off the life-sustaining machines that had kept her alive for the past year. "You know how silly your Grandpa Rezzo can be."_

"_Sure Mom," young Zelgadis agreed, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. "I'll take good care of him... you can count on me..." He could not continue; the tears were too great. Crying uncontrollably now, he ran up to his mother and hugged her tight. Maria then smiled weakly and closed her eyes._

"_Thanks. I love you, my son."_

"_Mom...?" young Zelgadis sniffed. He drew back and looked up at his mother's face with his blurry eyes. Her face was eerily calm and she was unresponsive. "Mom? Mom! Wake up Mom!" The memory became a blur of heartache, of loneliness, of despair._

_Maria Graywords never woke up._

Slowly, Zelgadis came back to the diner. He could hear an alarmed voice quietly calling his name. Looking up, he saw Amelia's worried face giving him a highly concerned look. Zelgadis noticed that he had placed his cheeseburger down and had not eaten a thing since his painful memory came to him.

"Are you sure everything is alright Mr. Graywords?" Amelia asked before picking up a chili-and-cheese-laden french fry. "You seem to be quite distracted, which is not like you at all." She popped the french fry in her mouth and licked the excess chili and cheese off her fingers.

"I'm fine," Zelgadis lied. He then decided to change the subject to avoid having to tell her anything about his past. "Miss Seiryuun, why don't you use a fork for your fries instead of getting your fingers dirty?"

"Oh!" Amelia gasped, as if the act of eating with her fingers was a horrid evil. "I am so sorry! My other friends just eat up everything in sight, so I guess I am used to eating as fast as I can..."

"Even if it means using your fingers?"

"Yeah... sometimes..." Amelia blushed. She looked down at her food and wondered what her boss was thinking about her.

_Oh, he probably thinks I am an absolute slob!_ she thought in distress. _Daddy always said that I needed to have perfect manners when I am around others, but Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt just eat so much I have to fight for the right to eat my own food! How embarrassing!_

She looked up at Zelgadis, who seemed to almost be amused by Amelia's confession. She blushed some more, picked up her fork and began to eat some of the stray chili-cheese mixture still left on her plate. She kept her gaze on her food out of embarrassment and began to wonder what she should do next.

"I'm sorry Mr. Graywords," Amelia said suddenly. Zelgadis looked up from his cheeseburger, a bit startled.

"What are you apologizing for this time?"

"I feel like I need to apologize for something. I'm not quite sure to what yet."

"Apologize for nothing," Zelgadis said blandly. "In fact, why don't we drop the formalities, eh? I think it would make you and I both feel a bit more at ease."

"Okay then," Amelia agreed as she finished up the rest of her spare chili-cheese mix. She finished it in silence as Zelgadis polished off his own food and the two of them left the small diner less hungry, but more awkward with each other than they thought they had ever been.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Zelgadis/Amelia: Yes! Finally! -dances- Things are becoming right with the world once again!

Zelgadis's Flashbacks: Yes, these explain his childhood's craptastic existence, how his mother died, how he came to live with Rezzo and where in the hell his father is! It was very sad to write and tried to trick my eyes into leaking.

Where Are They Eating?: A diner. You know... one of those things that was popular in the fifties and it was the place to be back when my _grandparents _were my age.

The Chapter Sort of Cuts Off: That's because the subplot continues on next week!


	17. Is This A Date?

Spring Break. Why am I not all that excited? Dunno. It might have something to do with the fact that it is way too hot around here. Blargh. Warm not good for the Nehszriah. The only things I have to be even remotely geeked about is Quizbowl state tourney at the end of the week, I have semi-conquered chapter difficulty and this story officially reaching over one megabyte in size. -grins- I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, old movies and definitely not cures to men. If I owned the latter, I'd be so rich.

* * *

Juu-nana

_Is This A Date? A Cured Woman!_

Zelgadis's silver Scion rolled into the large concrete parking structure as the sun set on the Portland summer day. Amelia and Zelgadis had been completely silent on the ride over, but as they neared the parking spot for Amelia's apartment number, the woman decided to boldly break the ice.

"Thank you for dropping me off at home Mr. Gr...erm... Mr. Zelgadis... would you like to come up?" she asked kindly. Zelgadis looked at her questioningly as he stopped the car and put it into park.

"Don't you think it is a little much for just having gone to dinner once?" he replied. Amelia looked genuinely puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," Zelgadis sighed as he turned off the car and got out. He locked the car once Amelia got out and then followed her up to her apartment.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked as she entered her apartment and walked into the kitchen.

"Sure," Zelgadis nervously said as he stood in the miniature hallway that was by the door. Amelia glanced over at the chimera as she put the kettle on and giggled.

"You can go and sit down in the living room. It's alright to come in. There's no killer attack-cat waiting to strike."

"Huh? Oh, yeah…"

Zelgadis walked further into the apartment and found where the main room was. He was intrigued by all the photographs that were placed everywhere. Some of them were of what Zelgadis assumed to be Amelia's family members and then there were some of people who were clearly her friends. Two of them looked vaguely familiar, as if Zelgadis knew exactly who they were without meeting them before.

"Hey Amelia, may I ask who these two are with you?" Zelgadis asked as he looked at a framed picture of her with two friends at Washington DC. The redheaded girl seemed bothered by the presence of Amelia and a tall, brown-haired man wearing a pair of dorky tourist's sunglasses. They were on either side of the red-head and both seemed to be much peppier than she could have ever been.

"Let me see," Amelia said as she came out of the kitchen for a second. "Oh, that's just Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt when we were in Washington DC a few months ago. We had a very fun time. Why do you ask?"

"They look familiar to me. I just can't place where I've seen them though," Zelgadis replied thoughtfully.

"Well, Mr. Kurt is on the Slayers and so is Miss Lina's cousin Liam."

"Really?" Zelgadis replied in surprise. A short silence followed before he spoke up again. "Did Liam go sightseeing with you guys?"

"He was the one with the camera," Amelia lied before returning to the kitchen. "Mr. Liam does not like being photographed at all so he went around and took pictures of the rest of us. It kind of ticked off Miss Lina, since she is the same way about most pictures taken of her." In all actuality, it was because they had asked someone else to take the picture for them that they got a shot with the three friends fully in it.

"It looks as if his cousin is the same way. The two of them look almost like twins instead of cousins."

"I do have to admit that they are very similar," Amelia confessed as she came out of the kitchen with a tray and set it down on the coffee table. On the tray was a pot of tea, two mugs and some cookies of the chocolate chip variety. Amelia poured the tea, handed Zelgadis his mug and sat down on the sofa. "Sometimes I even get them mixed up."

"I knew they looked familiar," Zelgadis said as he put the frame down and sat down on the sofa, next to Amelia. "It is a bit disappointing that I did not place them in my memory right away. They are on my team and I should be able to recognize them. I must be the worst owner in the entire league."

"It's alright Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia smiled sweetly as she picked up a cookie. "You have so many people you need to keep track of. I would bet that it is hard to remember them all sometimes."

"Whatever," Zelgadis scoffed as he took a sip of his tea. He leaned back into the sofa and let out a relaxed sigh. "Everything seems to finally be settling down now though."

"Things at the office are calming down! It is still fairly hectic if you ask me!"

"You came in when the bustle was on the verge of dying. My former secretary was able to do insane amounts of work without trouble and it was only when she left did I realize that she had been doing the work of two people."

"May I ask why she left?"

"I was a right awful git."

"Someone has been watching too much _Harry Potter_," Amelia teased. Zelgadis looked over at her and laughed sarcastically, thankful that she caught the reference.

"That's the exact reason to why she left me," he said. "She really didn't like my taste in movies that much."

"Now why would a secretary quit over something as trivial as some films?"

"She was also my girlfriend."

"Oh..." Amelia said as she took another cookie. "I am guessing that it was the last straw, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"If you broke up over movies, then it had to be part of some longer and outstanding fight the two of you had going."

"You must be some Dr. Phil incarnation or something," Zelgadis said with a bit of acidity. Amelia just giggled and blushed.

"Thank you Mr. Zelgadis," she said through her laughter. "I guess I do need good mediating skills if I want to keep Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt in line. It seems as if I am the one who keeps them from beating on poor Mr. Metallium most of the time..."

"Do you mean the Slayer's manager: _Xellos_ Metallium?" Zelgadis asked suspiciously. Amelia almost dropped her tea once she realized what she had said. "Amelia, is there something you are not telling me?"

Amelia stayed quiet. The less she said, less of a chance she would slip again. She took a sip of tea and shook her head from side to side with a tremor.

"Whatever," Zelgadis sighed with frustration. He put down his mug on the tray and got up to leave. "I'll see you at work…"

"Doyouwanttowatchamoviewithme?" Amelia asked quickly as Zelgadis stood up. He turned towards her and saw that she seemed to be trembling with her eyes down at her drink.

"What did you say?"

"Do you want to watch a movie with me?" Amelia repeated, looking up pleadingly at Zelgadis. The chimera looked at her with confused disgust whilst he debated whether or not he should agree.

"…just as long as it isn't one of those damn chick flicks…" he moaned, unwillingly giving in. Amelia put down her tea and happily scuttled off towards another room. She reappeared almost instantly with two DVD cases in her hand and a smile on her face.

"_Ocean's Eleven_ or _Harvey_ Mr. Zelgadis?" she asked congenially. Zelgadis looked at his choices, slightly surprised that they were both classic movies, and then picked out the one he had not seen recently.

"_Ocean's Eleven_," he said. Amelia went and joyfully put the DVD into the entertainment system and sat down on the sofa.

"Come on and sit down Mr. Zelgadis!" she smiled, patting the seat cushion next to her. Zelgadis warily took the seat as Amelia turned the movie on with the remote control.

_I wonder where this is going to end up_, Zelgadis thought as Amelia nestled into the sofa next to him as the opening credits began rolling. No, he didn't want to think about that. Instead, he stretched out on his own end of the sofa and decided to watch the movie in peace.

**80808080808080808**

"_Ee-o leven_," whistled the television as the movie ended. Zelgadis stirred from his sleep, having passed out during the casino steakouts. Stretching lethargically, he looked at the clock on the wall and discovered that it was getting close to midnight. He looked down to see a sleeping Amelia who was curled up next to him and using his lap as a pillow.

_I highly doubt she meant to do that_, he thought as he gingerly replaced himself with one of the various throw pillows that was on the sofa. He turned off the television set and looked at Amelia. It was apparent that she had been sleeping for a while, due to the fact she had accepted the new pillow without even the slightest disturbance.

"Good night," Zelgadis as he walked towards the door. As he passed the sofa, he flipped over the blanket that was draped over the back of it. He knew it would fall on Amelia and did not stop walking to check and make sure that it did. Zelgadis left the apartment silently as Amelia slept on, curled up underneath the warm blanket and completely unaware that her company had left.

**80808080808080808**

It was already hours past sunrise when Lina barged into Amelia's apartment on Saturday morning. The woman made no effort to be quiet in case her friend was sleeping and was determined to wake her up anyways.

"Amelia! Hey, Amelia!" she yelled as she made her way towards her friend's bedroom. Amelia, who was still on the sofa, sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes with confusion.

"Mr. Zelgadis?" she yawned.

"No you silly, silly person," Lina laughed as she realized Amelia was in the living room. She bounded up to Amelia and got right in her face. "It's me!"

"Kya!" Amelia exclaimed when she opened her eyes and discovered Lina less than two inches away. "What are you doing here Miss Lina? Don't you have to still be in Chicago for the team?"

"It's ten in the morning Amelia. You over-slept and missed picking me up at the airport earlier," Lina half-snickered. "I guess you had another late-night movie marathon again, am I right?"

"Oh no!" Amelia cried. "I'm late to work! Mr. Zelgadis is going to kill me!" She threw off the blanket and tried to rush over to the door to leave, but Lina held onto her arm and wouldn't let go.

"'Tis a Saturday 'Melia," she said. "You don't need to go to work today."

"Oh…" Amelia replied, calming down so that Lina let go of her arm. "Where is Mr. Zelgadis?"

"What do I care? I am not your boss's keeper. Why in the hell would you ask me that?"

"He was here last night and I don't remember him leaving…"

"You had you boss over here last night and you didn't tell me!" Lina snapped. "Do you realize what could have happened between the two of you!"

"Yeah. If I had stayed awake, we could have watched another movie."

"Movie…?"

"Yeah, we were watching a movie. The last thing I remember is laying down on the sofa and being tired. I guess I fell asleep and he left once that happened."

"Considering I found you curled up underneath a blanket while you were on the sofa, I guess he made sure you wouldn't freeze in the A/C and left," Lina observed.

"I sure do hope he got home alright..."

"Amelia, stop it. You sound as if you like the guy or something." The ever-supportive Lina made a fake retching noise and screwed her face up as if she were going to hurl.

"Oh stop it Miss Lina!"

"You have the hots for your boss..." Lina said in a sing-song voice.

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Miss Lina!"

"You may have yet to be cured of men, but I have!"

Amelia looked at Lina in sarcastic disbelief.

"Cured of men?"

"You bet I am!"

"Impossible," Amelia sighed as she went into her room to change into clean clothes. She came back out a minute later in blue jeans and a green Slayers t-shirt, only to find Lina rummaging around in her cupboards.

"Don't you have anything to eat?" Lina asked as she opened the refrigerator. Amelia shut the refrigerator door on Lina, startling her.

"Stay out of my kitchen." Amelia ordered. "Now, Miss Lina, what did you say about being cured of men?"

"I think I finally found out what makes me freeze up when I am facing Gourry Gabriev!" Lina proudly announced.

"Really? How did you discover this?"

"By going out with him."

Amelia almost fell to the floor. "You went out on a date with him? How did you manage that!"

"Easy, we were both in Chicago at the same time and we happened to be in the same bar," Lina said, quite snugly. "...and before I knew it... he asked me out. He does seem like a real idiot though…"

"...the hell Miss Lina!" Amelia panicked. "What if he had recognized you! Then he would report you and Mr. Zelgadis and Mr. Metallium and we would all be banned from baseball and…"

"Calm down Amelia," Lina laughed. "He's got a jellyfish for brains. He's not going to go around saying that I am Liam Inverse. I told him both my first and last name and he did not even blink towards the notion. This is awesome!"

"You need to control yourself Miss Lina!" Amelia scolded. "You should not be recklessly testing your luck like that! What if your wig had accidentally come off, huh? Then what would you have done?"

"I dunno."

"You don't know...?"

"Amelia!" Lina whined. "I was thinking on an impulse!"

"You always think on impulses!"

"Is that bad?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Miss Lina, I thought you were getting better at going out in public by yourself."

"I am..."

"That's it! I am going to tell Mr. Kurt that he is not allowed to leave your side while you guys are traveling!" Amelia announced. Lina did not like this suggestion one bit and tried to put Amelia in a headlock to get her to take it back. When that failed and Amelia wriggled free, thus began a race around the apartment that ended with Amelia giving up and offering Lina some food in payment... which Lina took to heart.

* * *

**Things To Know**

"Right awful git": That, my friends, was from the fourth Harry Potter movie, which was a fair movie but a disappointing book adaptation.

Dr. Phil: Yeah, I really don't like the guy. I think he's unnecessary and a quack. No offence to those out there who like him.

Ocean's Eleven and Harvey: Movies. Old. I'll never leave Ocean's Eleven alone. Learn this now. Harvey has the predecessor of Frank from Donnie Darko. -grins- All hail Frank.


	18. Sizzling September!

Whoo! Back from Spring Break and visiting the capitol! Shame I couldn't go see some "democracy in action"on Saturday, but my teacher would have gotten in trouble. There was already one teacher nearly roasted with wieners for trying to scare internet safety into us. Poor, poor teachers. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, jellyfish, my reviewers, locking people in closets, talking in Portuguese and especially not Communism. Apologies in advance for writing OCs with outdated, prejudiced emotions.

* * *

Juu-hachi

_Sizzling September! Mary's Got A Rematch!_

"Are you sure this is going to work Lina?" Kurt asked skeptically as he observed his friend in the batting cage. Lina did not answer, but swung at an oncoming ball with incredible force. A loud crack resounded as the ball flew back towards the pitching machine. Said machine then became victim to the ball as it fell down to the ground and began thrusting balls at the ceiling instead of towards Lina.

"Of course it will work," Lina said as she raised her bat and pointed towards the tarp she had put on the wall behind the pitching machine. On the tarp, she had used her less than exemplary artistic ability to paint on a rather large jellyfish that had very long blond hair and an idiotic expression upon its face. "I am ready to hear if you have other suggestions."

"A cardboard cutout placed behind or next to the pitching machine might have been more effective, don't you think?"

"Nonsense. That would have just been weird."

"Whatever," Kurt sighed, entering the cage so that he could right the fallen machine. "I still think this is not going to work. What good would come out of this all anyways?"

"Building up my immunity to Gabriev's pitching and immobilization technique," Lina grinned. As soon as Kurt was out of the cage, she pressed a button on the wall to make the pitching machine start up again.

"So you seriously believe that a tarp is going to help you?"

"Not just any tarp," Lina puffed as she swung the bat at an oncoming ball. "...but a tarp that looks like him!"

"It doesn't l..."

"Shut up!"

"I just don't get you Lina," Kurt said half-heartedly. He stared at Lina through the chain-link fence as she methodically smacked baseball after baseball into the tarp stuck to the wall. It felt as if she had been hitting baseballs for hours when the basket finally ran out and more balls needed to be fed into the machine.

"Oi Kurt, hand me that bucket there, will ya?" Lina asked as she went over to the machine to temporarily turn it off. Kurt looked down next to him to see a rather large bucket filled with a few scores of baseballs.

"Don't you want to save up your energy for the game later?" he asked.

"Nonsense! The game is six hours away!" Lina retorted. "Now hand me that bucket!"

_Good Lord help us all..._ Kurt sighed mentally. _Bloody Mary's in another moment. The world might just end if her demands are not made._

**80808080808080808**

It was generally calm in the press box, being that it was a few hours before the beginning of the game. Naga sat in her seat by the microphone, yet instead of having AirJay sitting next to her, there was a gangly girl with shoulder-length brown hair and a black baseball cap on that clashed with her hazel eyes.

"Hello and welcome to Jones Soda Stadium, home of the Portland Slayers!" she said with flourish. "My name is Nehszriah Shirubaa Kiri Morgana and am standing in today for AirJay Andrades..."

"More like you tied him up and shoved him in the closet," Naga added blandly as she lazily consumed a hot dog. It was a practice run for the commentators, so she was not worried about the microphone being turned on.

"...as I was saying..." the brown-haired girl said through clenched teeth. She glared over at Naga, who just gave a blank look in response. "...oh... never mind..."

"That's right!" Naga laughed. Nehszriah had to cover her ears to save them partly from the screeching howl that came out of her comrade. She amazingly though, was able to hear a muted pounding sound coming from a nearby door that was accompanied by a muffled shouting noise.

"Jeezum crowe... he's still conscious...?" Nehszriah muttered as she walked over to the door. She opened the door a slight crack, kicked something that made a faint yelping noise and sat back down next to Naga.

"That is just wrong," the raven-haired woman sighed.

"Hey, I guess as long as that referee-chick..."

"...you mean Sunny..."

"...whatever... but as long as she has Ramon-kun, and is keeping him busy, and the dog-creature..."

"You mean Kiko?"

"...yeah... that... and as long as he doesn't show up too, there is no one really who can stop me."

"I always can you know."

"You have my word that I'll to leave him to you later," Nehszriah said, holding up her right hand as if taking an oath. She idly hummed a tune about grunge hamsters and lobsters of revenge as she awaited the answer.

"Done." Naga smiled mischievously and looked back at the closet. She was definitely going to have some fun after the game.

**80808080808080808**

It was very hectic in the locker room, contrasting greatly with the press box of the previous scene. The various members of the Slayers were going through their pre-game rituals driven by strict superstition or lack thereof. Off to one corner was Lina and Kurt, quietly talking so that no one else could hear them without being right next to Kurt's shoulder.

"Kurt, I'm ready."

"Then why in the hell are you freaking out Liam?"

"I am not freaking out."

"Then why are you about to crush that bat handle with your bare hands? Stop it..."

"Hey Fuchs! Stop talking to your boyfriend and get over here!" a voice called from across the room. Lina recognized it at once to belong to Daniel White, the pitcher who was still teasing the two friends after all this time when they were supposed to be teammates.

"Shove it Dan," Kurt sneered as he walked over to Daniel. Daniel just made a rude hand gesture back to Kurt as they both sat down in the huddle around Xellos.

"Now then," Xellos said smoothly as his team gathered round. "What may I ask are we going to do today?"

"Win!" the mob of males chanted.

"…and why do we want to win?"

"...to win the pennant!" Aaron Reeds exclaimed.

"...to be the best!" Jan Oisterwijk added.

"...to KICK GLADIATOR ASS!" Lina shouted from her little corner of the locker room. Everyone else glanced over to see her in a fierce battle-ready pose that made her seem almost as if she was ready to go outside to meet her maker than an opposing baseball team.

"Calm down there Liam," Kurt sighed. "We all know you want to 'kick ass', but can't you control yourself?"

"Come on now," Xellos said slyly, going over to Lina as she hopped down off the bench she had been standing on. "I think Inverse here has a point. We do want to take out the trash, now don't we?"

The rest of the locker room, sans Kurt, cheered in response. Kurt just sighed and shook his head at the rally of yawps that Lina and Xellos were able to stir up.

"I think I might need an aspirin by the end of the night," he sighed, knowing that no one else would respond.

**80808080808080808**

Tension was high in the air as the Slayers took the field for their first inning of play. Lina bounced out to her spot between Gary Polous and Kenny Rook and began stretching out. She could hear her name being chanted by a small section of the fans and the night's lineup announced over the intercom system.

_Gotta stay loose. Gotta stay focused. Gotta beat the Gladiators! _Lina thought as she absentmindedly swung around her arm to loosen it. She looked over at Kurt and gave a v-for-victory sign, showing that she was definitely ready for the game. Kurt smiled in return and began to pass a baseball to Sam Vilsis and Jan Oisterwijk.

_Look out Gourry Gabriev_, Lina thought with sheer confidence oozing from her very essence. _I'm gonna hit a homer off you and there will be nothing you can do about it._

**80808080808080808**

It was the bottom of the second inning before Lina could go to the batter's box. Kurt had already done her a favor by getting on base by hitting a double and Aaron Reeds right before her went down on strikes. All she had to do at this point was hit the ball over four hundred feet over the field fence and the Slayers would have a two run lead. It was now all or nothing.

_All right now Lina_, Lina thought as she made herself comfortable at the plate. _Let's beat this guy. Show him what we're made of_. She glanced over at Gourry standing on the mound and smirked. _It's working! I think I can overcome this guy! No man is going to defeat me and get away with it!_

Lina swung with maddening force as the ball came close to the plate. The ball popped up and soared high over the foul line and into the crowd.

_Well, at least I was able to hit it this time... that's at least an improvement..._

**80808080808080808**

"…and that's a foul ball off the bat of Inverse," Naga said from up in the pressbox. She rested her jaw on her hand out of sheer boredom.

"You know," Nehszriah began, trying to be a good commentator. "I have seen quite an improvement in Inverse's batting game since the beginning of the season. To be honest, he's come miles since April 3rd… hell, he has come far since the last Slayers/Gladiators match-up alone!"

"…and Gabriev pitches a ball… and quite the wild one at that. One ball, one strike."

"I do also hope you realize that Gabriev has come along as well as a pitcher. In fact, this reminds me of this one time… at band camp…"

"You never went to band camp," Naga scoffed.

"How would you know?"

"I'm Naga, of course!"

"Jeezum…"

"Another ball. It looks as if Gabriev might be having some trouble concentrating today. Two, one; on Inverse."

"Fine then," Nehszriah grumped. "Then there was this one time… on Ebay…"

"You don't belong to Ebay either, so just shut up already."

"Make me."

"We're on air you know."

"I don't give a thought."

"There's another ball. Three, one; one out; Fuchs on second. Good job at censoring yourself there Nehszriah."

"Naga-san... do you have Bawls?"

"Excuse me…!"

"You know… energy drink… Bawls… yummy… I'm sleepy…"

"Nehszriah, you are not being all that colorful for being the color commentary," Naga sighed. She glanced over to her right to see Nehszriah fast asleep with her head down on the desk and using her arms as a makeshift pillow.

"_Para o amor de Mariá, esta menina é uma dor de damn em meu lado. É quase tão má quanto esse palhaço no armário_…" she sighed. "_Eu não fico pago suficiente fazer isto_…"

**80808080808080808**

Lina swung hard as she barely tipped the ball behind the blue-haired female who was umpiring the game. Her breathing became heavy with dread as a new ball was thrown back at Gourry.

_Damn it, damn it, damn it... _she panicked internally. _Full count! What am I going to do? I need a plan of attack, that's what. Come on Lina. Eye on the ball. Follow though with the swing... since when do I play golf dammit?_

Again, Lina looked over at Gourry. His eyes appeared much more intense as he stood there on the mound than they were when they were in the Chicago bar. Lina spat in the dirt nervously, preparing for the pitch as Gourry wound up.

_The wind-up... the pitch..._

Lina half wanted to close her eyes when she swung, yet somehow managed to keep them open. The ball connected with the bat and screamed towards left field. On impulse she ran; running as fast as she could manage. She looked over towards where the ball was as she passed first base up. The fielder rushed towards the wall and jumped in an attempt to snatch the ball from mid-air and steal yet another home run. Lina could not tell when his feet touched the ground again if he had the ball or not. She stopped at second to take a good look and see; was he holding that precious white sphere?

To her surprise, he was.

No... Lina weakly thought in her brain as she stood with a shocked expression upon her face. It can't be... I thought I broke that curse he had on me...

"Get back here Liam!" Lina heard someone shout. Lina looked over to the dugout to see Xellos trying to wave her down with large purple flags that had seemingly come out of nowhere. "Liam! Get back here before they beat me to a pulp!" Sure enough, upon closer inspection, Lina found that Murdoc Rodriguez and Takashi Takeda were trying to pry the flags from their manager and beat him with them, cursing him in Spanish and Japanese.

"Hey, at least you nearly made it," Aaron complimented as Lina sat down next to him. "I didn't even get to hit the ball. Look at it that way."

"I guess..." Lina scoffed as she stared at Gourry on the mound. He threw a breaking ball to Gary Polous that caused the second baseman to whiff the swing. Lina cringed slightly when she heard the sound of the leather catcher's glove forcefully cradling the baseball. The umpire called out that it was already Gary's second strike, Lina having missed the first slider. The air went thick in the dugout with anticipation as Gourry caught the baseball from the catcher and readied to throw another pitch. He pulled back his arm and pitched a lighting bolt of a fastball. Gary had almost no time to react and once he did, it was too late. The ball passed his bat right by and he was called out on strikes. A large rock seemed to drop inside Lina's stomach as Gary walked back to the dugout.

"Man," Gary sighed. "He got me again. Damn Commie…"

"There you go again," Aaron sighed, sick of hearing Gary's random excuses for failure. "Blaming people for just having a cultural history. I swear that if someone hears you one of these days, you're getting your ass thrown in jail on racism charges."

"Like I really care," Gary snarled defensively. "I just don't like playing against that damn Russian. He was probably bred for baseball, knowing how they stacked their Olympic teams back in the day."

"You say those kinds of things about Eastern Europeans, African Americans, Jewish people, Southerners..." Takashi noted, counting on his fingers.

"Gabriev doesn't sound like he's from Russia though," Lina interjected. She then let out a small gasp, realizing that she might have given her teammates a hint to the fact she had a second life.

"You might not be able to tell it by the interviews with him on television, but his family is from Russia, Liam. It isn't even the Russia we know now, but the Soviet Union."

"Does that really matter?" Sam asked as he picked up his glove and began to walk up the stairs to the field. "So his family's Russian. I think mine might be somewhere too. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No…" Gary muttered. "I just remember learning that they were evil."

"You're old," Kurt laughed, having come back from the field to fetch his glove. "I don't remember that silly Cold War mentality. It's like you're living in the fifties."

"Shut up Fuchs. I'm only seven years older than you! Just because I remember how some things were doesn't mean I'm ancient!"

"Yes it does," Xellos snickered. "I don't remember."

"You are older than me, liar."

"Defective memory; now haul ass ya pansy!"

"Damn wanker…!" Gary growled. Lina and Kurt tried pushing him along and got help from Sam when he grabbed the back of Gary's collar and dragged the light-framed man up the dugout stairs. Xellos gave one of his reverse-winks and grinned slyly, knowing that something was up with his team and he really could not care to find out whatever the heck it was.

* * *

**Things to Know**

The Tarp-O-Doomage: Yes, a play on the pet name Lina has for our favorite blond swordsman.

"Then there was this one time… on Ebay…": This is what my friend Tsuki has dubbed as the computer geek's version of the band camp joke. We blame her father, an accomplished Ebay addict, for the creation of this parody.

Nehszriah's Tune: That would be part of the lyrics to Furi Kuri's theme song "Ride on shooting star", which I have memorized and love utterly to bits... and I do not own.

Naga Speaking Portuguese: Translated online and supposed to turn out as "_For the love of Mary, this girl is a damn pain in my side. She's almost as bad as that clown in the closet ... I do not get paid enough to do this_". I decided I'd have her fluent in Portuguese, since I am sort of advocating the AirJay/Naga shipment in this fiction.

"Whiff the Swing": Meaning Gary swung the bat, but didn't hit anything.

Gary the Racist: Yeah, you people should know that I think on a higher level than Gary does. I just wanted there to be some sort of male-gossip-thing going on and after a while, decided to make a play on Gourry's ethnic-sounding name. It just sounds Russian and I remembered listening to my English III teacher ramble about how different we see people from the former Soviet Union today than when _he _was our age. That discussion made him feel old.


	19. Liam In A Funk?

The Nehszriah is scared. I was sitting in US History on Tuesday, minding my own business, when suddenly, -BOOM- I came to realize that I might have been channeled while this story was in initial development. Kurt Fuchs: baseball player. Klaus Fuchs: convicted Soviet spy of the Red Scare era. Creepy. Well, at least I entertained my teacher. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, funky European milk, breakfast cereals, Monty Python references, men simply being men and Lina simply being Lina.

* * *

Juu-kyu

_Liam In A Funk? Curse You Gabriev!_

Amelia walked into Lina's bedroom the day after the game. She was not the least bit surprised to find her friend still in bed, attempting to act as if she were fast asleep. Sighing deeply, she walked over to Lina's bed and gently shook her friend.

"Come on Miss Lina," she said kindly, trying to pull the covers off of her so that she could get out of bed. "It's time to get up and out of bed. It's a new day! A new start! You have to get up now!"

"I don't wanna get out of bed..." Lina whined as she jammed the covers back over her head to block out the sunlight. The bed was much too comfortable for her to abandon now, even if it was around ten o'clock.

"Miss Lina!" Amelia retorted, shaking the large lump her friend had become. "Any longer and you are going to need lunch instead of breakfast!"

"I don't care."

Amelia paused for a second. Lina not caring about food was a very serious matter and this meant that the situation needed to be handled delicately. This meant for Amelia though, having to dish out some tough love. She straightened out her back, folded her arms and prepared herself for the very worst.

"Are you planning to sleep through the rest of the series with the Gladiators like a helpless infant Miss Lina?"

"Yes."

"I thought I would never have to say this in my entire life Miss Lina, but you suck."

"Damn straight! My rookie season is in the toilet!" Lina agreed.

"You are leading American League rookies in batting, fourth on the list of best shortstops, rookie or veteran..."

"I freakin' suck. I can't beat him."

"You don't get it, do you?" Amelia sighed as she climbed up to sit on the Lina-lump and shake its shoulders. "Stop letting him get to you! I thought you said that were cured of men! What happened to the Lina Inverse that was cured of men! That Lina Inverse was so sure of herself and confident! Where did she go?"

"I can't help it!" Lina snapped, thrusting the blanket in Amelia's face and sitting straight up. "You try batting against him! I would bet fifty bucks that you wouldn't be able to do it!"

"You know I can't bat to save my life," Amelia said, giving Lina a cold glare. "You know, if I didn't know better, I would have to say that you have a crush on that man…"

"I do not have a crush on Gabriev! What in the hell do you think I am!"

"Human… female… imperfect… you are only a mere mortal Lina. You have been playing the role of a grand, invincible goddess for too long."

"Not a grand goddess, but a baseball _god_. I cannot and should not be defeated by anyone, not even a guy of all things."

"With you giving up like this, then he does win the battle by default," Amelia said morosely, shaking her head in a bland manner.

"One battle is not an entire war 'Melia," Lina pouted. Amelia was just about to reply when a knock on the bedroom door cut her off and making Lina jump in surprise.

"What is it now?" Amelia asked the door as it opened to reveal Kurt standing in the hallway with a half-eaten bowl of cereal in hand.

"Where in the heck do you guys keep the milk around here?" he asked. "The cereal's kind of dry…"

"Gick! Hands off me Lucky Charms!" Lina squeaked. She stumbled out of bed, falling flat on her face in her attempt to rescue the precious cereal.

"Isn't it in the refrigerator?" Amelia asked.

"The refrigerator? Not the cupboard?"

"Miss Lina doesn't get that funky milk your mother did," Amelia explained. It took all her strength to not laugh at Lina rubbing her sore nose and forehead. Kurt just shrugged nonchalantly and walked out of sight.

"Damn him… going into my food like that…" Lina grumbled as she stood up lethargically. "What in the hell is he even doing over here in the first place?"

"Mr. Kurt wanted to come. I figured it would be for 'emotional support', or something like that."

"I am here for emotional support!" Kurt yelled from the kitchen, his mouth full of cereal and milk. "I'm just hungry! It's not my fault that I have the appetite of a damned hobbit!"

"That does not give you an excuse to go and eat my food!" Lina yelled back, flames igniting in her eyes.

"Miss Lina, you eat near all the food in my kitchen whenever you come over," Amelia sighed. "You really should think about your own habits before you criticize others."

"Whatever," Lina grumbled as she shuffled out into the apartment hallway and towards the small kitchenette where Kurt was devouring what looked like the equivalent of an entire box of sugary breakfast cereal. Lina snatched the bowl away from Kurt and began to eat what he had not already half-inhaled. Kurt opened his mouth to retort, but Amelia stopped him by dragging him out of the kitchenette by the wrist.

"I think we should let Miss Lina simmer for a while," she said. "I mean, she doesn't seem like herself."

"...but I was eating!"

"We can eat back at your place," Amelia sighed. She led Kurt out of the apartment and closed the door behind her. "I swear Mr. Kurt. You have no idea, do you?"

"Idea to what?"

"The fact that Miss Lina is in a funk. Her supposedly well thought-out plans failed her and she is in denial."

"You sound as if you've seen this before," Kurt said as he pressed the down button to the elevator and got in.

"Yeah," Amelia sighed. "She had the same problem when we were in high school and there was a mock home run derby. She lost the competition terribly and couldn't really bat properly for two whole games afterwards. I think she would not have been able to bat for only one if she had not tried so hard the first game to prove to everyone that she could hit a home run."

"Jeezum crowe, Lina sure is a complicated person," Kurt said. He shook his head solemnly as the elevator came to a stop and him and Amelia exited onto the ground floor.

"You have no idea," Amelia agreed with a laugh. She and Kurt then walked out of the building and down the street to the small apartment building that Kurt lived in. Once in his apartment and Kurt had some food to munch on, the two began to have a much more serious talk.

"You know Amelia," Kurt said through a banana as he sat down at the kitchen table next to Amelia. "I don't think I have ever seen Lina this kind of worked up over a guy before. I mean, she's been pretty upset with the Wanker on an almost daily basis, but it is always a pissed-off kind of upset, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah. This is the first time even I have seen Miss Lina upset like this... which is pretty scary if you think about it. These emotions are all quite new to her you know."

"Oh. I see then. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more?" Kurt snickered. Amelia smacked his arm in protest.

"You're positively disgusting," she sneered.

"Well, that's what kind of upset it is, right!" Kurt claimed defensively. "If not, it's the only kind of upset I can come up with. Lina is only a girl, no matter how many people she is able to fool."

"I know, but you don't have to put it like that!"

"How would you rather me put it?"

"I don't know. It just seems strange to me having Miss Lina attracted to a guy," Amelia replied softly. "She has always seemed to be the one who was immune to love and romance. Her in this position is kind of... well..."

"Amelia," Kurt interrupted, holding his hand up between him and the raven-haired woman. "Please, if you are going to come out, don't come out to me. I don't do well with that sort of stuff."

"I'm not coming out you idiot!" she growled, smacking Kurt's arm again. "I am just concerned. Most women by the time they reach Miss Lina's age have had at least one boyfriend and gone on at least one date! She has no romantic past with men and is quite far from gaining the necessary experience needed to deal with them on a level above the platonic and brotherly friendships she's had in the past."

"You must have really thought this out."

"Yes, I have in fact thought it out over and over again," Amelia said with a disheartened tone. "I worry about Miss Lina a whole lot and I just don't want her to get too freaked out by everything."

"Then why did you force leaving her apartment?"

"The best way to get Lina to accept help is to offer and then leave her alone for a while. Once she opens the newspaper and discovers that the pitcher announced to start for the Gladiators is not Mr. Gourry, then she should be fine."

"Does she even get the newspaper?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know. I do know that she reads one when I leave them lying around, but I didn't do that today. There's also stat sites on the internet you know." Without warning, the telephone rang and Kurt picked it up without thinking.

"Hello?"

"_KURT! I'M PLAYING TODAY AND THAT'S FINAL!_" Lina screeched into the telephone so loud that Amelia could hear. "_GABRIEV'S NOT PITCHING! I'M IN THE CLEAR! I'M SAFE!_"

"Good for you Lina," Kurt sighed, switching the telephone receiver to his other ear in order to save his hearing.

"_Meet you outside the ballpark in two hours for practice?_"

"No. I've got a date this afternoon before the game. I wouldn't be able to make it until about an hour before game time."

"_Whatever. Just be sure to come as early as you possibly can! I don't care how hot of a date you've got! In fact, bring her here if that's what it takes! You better come damn it!_" Kurt looked at the telephone in wonder as Lina hung up on her end.

"Damn. You were right Amelia. Leaving her alone does work. It's kind of scary if you think about it."

"Yup. Now we just need her to ask us for help," Amelia smiled. "Now who in the heck do you think you are going on a date with later? I know you can't possibly mean me."

"My girlfriend."

"What girlfriend?"

"Not you."

"Well, I know that! Who is it?"

"My _new _girlfriend. You'd like her. Name's Frankie."

"Since when has this been going on?"

"I dunno," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "The only downside is that she doesn't like baseball. Says the owner of the Slayers is a prick."

"Mr. Zelgadis does give off that impression at first," Amelia admitted. "He doesn't seem very nice when you first meet him, but is alright once you know him."

"Since when did this happen?" Kurt asked in a tone as close to Amelia's voice as he could get. Amelia shoved him and gave a wry look.

"Hey, it's not like I'm dating my boss."

"Yet," Kurt added. "The key word you left out is 'yet'."

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing... yet."

"You damn idiotic guy."

"Born one, raised one, always will be one," Kurt said jokingly as he got up and exited the kitchen. "I have to go get ready for when Frankie comes over. Will you be at the game later tonight?"

"No," Amelia answered. "The game's late and I have work in the morning unlike _some _people I know. Don't worry, I'll keep track of the one tomorrow afternoon."

"Whatever... right then. See you later."

Amelia did not answer as she walked out of Kurt's apartment and the building itself. She still felt uncertain about Lina's emotions staying the way they were, but knew she could not go back, else risk the chance of making them much worse than they needed to be.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Grand Goddess: Yes, the name of the golem of Naga from Slayers GREAT. I have its theme song.

Kurt's Milk Problem: For those of you who don't know, yes, there is milk for people to buy that has stuff in it to keep it from going rancid if left in a cupboard. I experienced this phenomena of sorts at the age of eight while visiting relatives in a far-away land. I also needed a reason for Kurt to come and butt in on the conversation. -grins- What comes around goes around Lina.

"Wink, wink... say no more?": Monty Python does very bad things when it runs off with me brain. At least I haven't started quoting _The Meaning of Life _yet... That would be bad.

Kurt's New Girl: He seemed lonely without Amelia there to be -with- him.


	20. Increase Ratings Week!

Okay, now this chapter was originally much longer, having the first part of the next chapter squished along with it, but I decided it would be better for my sanity (and the readers' eyeballs) if I broke it up. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, tear-jerker date movies and awkward moments.

* * *

Ni-juu

_Increase Ratings Week! Be Careful You Two!_

Amelia looked at the clock and sighed. It was one o'clock in the afternoon and her stomach was telling her it was time for lunch. She peeked warily into the door adjacent to her and saw that Zelgadis appeared very busy with some paperwork and would be concentrating long enough for her to go and eat some food. Taking her instant noodle cup out of the desk drawer, she quietly walked out the door of the office and down the hall to the staff lunchroom.

"Hi there guys!" Amelia said cheerily as she greeted a pair of her female coworkers. She did not even realize that the two of them were talking about her as she put some water in her styrofoam cup and placed it in the microwave to heat up.

"So how is it working here?" asked one of the women seated at the table. Amelia turned around and saw Lynn from Marketing giving her an acidly sinister glare.

"Oh, fine, I guess," Amelia answered casually. Her eyes wandered from Lynn over to the corner of the room where a group of men had a television set on the last baseball game that was to be played between the Slayers and Gladiators that season. Amelia smiled deftly as the camera zoomed in on Lina as she had to jump to make an important catch, then throwing it to Takashi at home for a double-play. The small huddle of men cheered as they heard the ball make a loud cracking noise in Kurt's glove.

"I can't believe you pay attention to all that dumb shit," Lynn scoffed, bringing Amelia back to their side of the room.

"Of course I pay attention!" Amelia snapped. "I have good friends on the Slayers and I know at least one would try to blackmail me if I didn't pay attention to the games... though he really doesn't need to threaten, since Mr. Liam _knows _I'll always do so..."

"Well, rumor has it that you have dated both of the star rookies," said the other woman, Sara from Accounting. "Is that true or was someone just pulling my leg? I mean, how could you get the attention of not one, but two professional athletes?"

"I've only dated Mr. Kurt," Amelia replied smugly. She enjoyed the look of envy on the other women's faces, though she knew that it was not very right to take relish in such things.

"So, then you were able to snag the hottie out of the pair," Lynn observed shrewdly.

"No, I thought we both agreed that Liam Inverse was better looking," argued Sara.

_Oh, just wait until Miss Lina hears about this..._ Amelia thought nervously as she took her noodle cup from the microwave and placed it down on the counter to cool.

"I guess it does not matter," Lynn said, shaking her head as she ate a puffy rice cake. "All that matters now is who's secretary you are."

"Why is that?"

"Amelia," Lynn said with a dark laugh. "Don't you know what the man does with his secretaries?"

Amelia raised her eyebrow. The woman was trying to warn her about Zelgadis! This she had to hear.

"The man's a total, cold-hearted lech," Sara said, waving around her fork-full of salad as if it were a fact of life. "Poor Frances packed her things in tears when she quit."

"That tells me nothing," Amelia replied.

"...but they had been sleeping together!" Lynn exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down. "That creep will probably go through secretaries like bottles of cheap wine until he's about fifty or so and then settle for some bimbo with fluff for brains and only looks good with makeup on once he decides to call it quits."

"Funny, Mr. Zelgadis doesn't strike me as that kind of man," Amelia said as she picked up her noodles and began eating with a plastic fork from the counter. "He's taken me out to dinner before and never once was I given any inclination to him being a pervert."

"Wait... he's already taken you out!"

"Yes Miss Sara. Why?"

"You are definitely in for it," Sara sighed.

"In for what?" Amelia asked through her noodles.

"Utter heartbreak, unless you don't go out with him again," Lynn said before Sara could even speak.

"You two are mental."

"You just watch yourself Amelia. Sara and I will be right. He'll space out to where you can't tell by his face what's going through his mind; unless of course, you know that all any man ever thinks about is sports or sex and since we can pretty much rule out the sports..."

"You two can take your opinions and shove 'em," Amelia snarled, becoming severely frustrated and accidentally letting a bit of the Lina in her show. She stormed out into the hall, noodle cup still in hand, and went back into her office. Nearly slamming down her noodle cup, she slumped back down into her desk chair and let out a furious groan.

_They don't think I can take care of myself_, she thought angrily. _Besides, all I had wanted to do was eat my lunch in peace..._

"Amelia...?" a voice called out from nearby, startling Amelia. She turned her chair and saw Zelgadis standing there by the doorway to his office.

"Yes Mr. Zelgadis?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to come over to my place for dinner later tonight," he asked. "Would you care to join me?"

"S-S-Sure...?" Amelia stammered. _I'll show Miss Lynn and Miss Sara!_

"Then my house at about seven?"

"Yeah. That's fine."

"I'll get you the directions," Zelgadis said, emotions oddly lacking in his voice.

_Well_, Amelia mentally sighed. _I guess this is it. Be right... or be naive. I do hope I am right..._

**80808080808080808**

"Is something the matter Amelia?" Zelgadis asked as his dinner companion picked at her food. Amelia looked up from her plate of lasagna with a guilty look upon her face.

"No," she lied softly.

"If I am that bad of a cook, you can tell me; I will not get offended," Zelgadis assured. "I am personally not all that thrilled with the results myself..."

"It's not the food Mr. Zelgadis! Trust me. I do like it. I just don't feel very hungry right now."

_Oh! I can't get out of my mind what Miss Lynn and Miss Sara said earlier_, Amelia thought as she glanced at Zelgadis while he ate. _Mr. Zelgadis is not a bad man, right? I mean, he kept his grandfather's baseball team after he died, even though he doesn't even like the sport all that much. Still, Miss Lynn and Miss Sara have known him longer than I have. Should I trust them?_

"Thank you for coming over Amelia," Zelgadis forced himself to say, interrupting Amelia's thoughts. "I sort of missed cooking and I really wanted to try it again."

"I never realized that you could cook Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia said. She then decided to buck up and be polite and began eating some of the food before her.

"I may not look like it, but I am quite artistic," Zelgadis said with a sly smile.

"What does cooking have to do with art?"

"Nothing and everything. Oranges and lemons."

"Oranges and lemons? What do you mean by that?"

"Things that may seem different are actually very similar. Most people disagree with me, yet my perception stays the same. You see, cooking is like an art, as are many other things in life. One can find striking similarities in nearly any pair of otherwise unrelated items as long as they keep in mind 'oranges and lemons'. They are both fruits with seeds and inner sections, juice, rinds one has to peel in order to eat one. Though many people say they are very different, they are actually almost identical."

"Oranges and lemons..." Amelia quietly repeated out loud. _The man's learned, yet blunt. Just my luck. At least he just seems philosophical..._

"Amelia, do you like baseball?" Zelgadis asked, changing the subject completely from out of the blue.

"Yeah, sure I do. Don't _you _like baseball Mr. Zelgadis?"

"No, not anymore, but I asked because you seemed very into the job I gave you concerning my late grandfather's team, I was just wondering if you at least were enjoying yourself with it."

"Why don't you like baseball anymore Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia asked in a jovial, nearly teasing manner. She really did mean no harm by this, yet Zelgadis looked at her with eyes that suddenly transformed into those made of cold steel.

"My father played baseball," he sneered spitefully. A shiver ran down Amelia's spine, sending her brain off into panic mode.

_Now I think that Miss Lynn and Miss Sara might have been right. Mr. Zelgadis is pretty scary like that! I only asked a harmless question. He didn't even have to answer me. Is that why he was so cold towards Mr. Rezzo?_

"I am sorry Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia apologized, placing her fork down and briskly standing up. "I really think that I should be going now."

"No, no, it is alright," Zelgadis said, mindful that he had possibly frightened her. "I just do not tell that to many people, so I have not exactly gotten good at keeping my emotions in while saying it."

"So... you aren't mad at me?"

"No, I see no reason to be mad at you."

"Oh..." Amelia said softly as she stood in the middle of the kitchen and blushed ferociously. _I am so confused! Is he nice? Is he mean? I don't know what to think!_

Zelgadis then stood up and began to walk over towards her. _What's going on! What is he going to do!_

"Would you like to watch a movie?" he asked.

"Wha...?" the taken-aback Amelia exclaimed.

"Dinner and a movie. We had the dinner already. Now I think it is about time for the movie, right?" he asked, the steel from his eyes still not fading, but becoming a bit softer.

"Okay..." Amelia agreed warily. "Shouldn't we clean up dinner first?"

"We can always do that later. Go pick out a movie from in the living room and I'll be there in a moment," Zelgadis said. With that, he walked out of the kitchen and out of sight.

_Lord help me... _Amelia whined internally. _What have I gotten myself into? Please Miss Lynn... Miss Sara... don't be right..._

**80808080808080808**

_Casablanca_, Zelgadis thought, more than slightly irked. _She just had to pick Casablanca, didn't she? _He sighed heavily as he stared at the television screen. _Alright Rick, just do yourself a favor and let Laszlo die. Let him and that stupid slut Elsa be taken by the Nazis and you will save yourself a whole hell of a lot of trouble._

Zelgadis heard the soft sound of Amelia's sigh and felt something brush up against the side of his leg. He looked down and saw that Amelia had curled herself up on the couch, the very top of her head just barely up against him in an innocent manner.

_I can still barely get over how drastic of a change she is from Frances_, he thought. _That woman would have been all over me by now. It is nice not having that for once. I do have a feeling though, that she picked this movie for a reason..._

_**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**_

_Oh, I love this movie_, Amelia though, her brain having long before floated off to a far-away and dreamy state. _It is so romantic. Mr. Bogart's character is risking his life for justice... all to save the woman he loves. _She felt something next to her as she snuggled into the couch. Without even thinking about it, she rested her head on the object next to her. It made her feel much more comfortable, relaxed and even safe. Amelia felt so much at peace that she began to lose focus in the movie and slowly drifted off into nothingness.

_**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**_

_Ah, shit,_ Zelgadis swore as Amelia unconsciously nestled herself into his lap. _I knew it was too good to be true. She is advancing after all. Hopefully, this is a far as she goes._

"M... m..." Amelia murmured in her sleep. She moved slightly and Zelgadis could then catch her profile in the soft light from the television screen. The world itself seemed to lose its color in the crescendo of angelic peace.

_Crap_, Zelgadis panicked, his face changing color with nervous blushing. He tried to move to the right and escape the unconsciously cuddling woman, yet he was already against the armrest of the couch. He looked down at the sleeping Amelia and tried to think up of a possible solution to move her without disturbing her. After finding nothing, he decided to act upon the only other possible alternative.

"Amelia. Wake up."

"Huh...?"

"Amelia, please get up," Zelgadis reiterated. Amelia slowly came to and she once again attempted to nestle into what she had clearly thought was a pillow in order to get back to sleep. When the "pillow" moved on its own however, her eyes snapped open and she pushed herself upwards. This did no good, for her face ended up about five centimeters away from Zelgadis's. Both their faces grew hot with color as they turned away quickly.

"I'm sorry Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia muttered as she retreated to the other end of the couch. "I didn't mean to..."

"Just do not do it again," Zelgadis quickly interjected. He looked over towards the television to try to concentrate on the movie once more. He found it utterly impossible.

"Maybe... maybe I should go now..." Amelia muttered. She stood up and walked over to the door to the living room that lead to the foyer. "Good night Mr. Graywords."

"Amelia..." Zelgadis started, but he was too late. Amelia had already began rushing out to her car in a bundle of embarrassment.

_Damn it..._ he thought when he heard the door to the house open and close quickly. He slumped down into laying on the couch and sighed. _Just my luck. Just my God damned luck...

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

Lynn and Sara: Classic examples of the Office Gossips. Meant to be annoying, Mary Jane-esque OCs.

Oranges and Lemons: Yayness! I sort of explained my 1984 reference from Chapter Nine!

Casablanca: The movie that my film teacher says I'm immune to. Huzzah. Zelgadis's thoughts on the movie are a fair mirror image of mine. Amelia on the other hand, thinks like a member of the Academy. I don't get them peoples real well. You might. I don't.


	21. Holy Fudge Monkeys!

Whoo! It's gettin' to crunch time in the story! Hopefully I can keep up with me updates. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Detroit, PMS and messing with people's heads just to scare the pants off them.

* * *

Ni-juu-ichi

_Holy Fudge Monkeys! Will the Slayers Keep Their Cool?_

"Umm... Mr. Graywords," Amelia said, poking her head in through the office door. It was the next day in the afternoon and the entire time both Amelia and Zelgadis were at work, neither was able to look the other in the eye out of embarrassment. "I think I found something in the filing system that you might want to take a look at."

"What is it?" Zelgadis asked, not even looking up from his computer screen. He had reports from the past quarter's business deals on the screen and had become too enveloped to want to divert much of his attention away and risk being lost in his place.

"I think it might have been something of your late grandfather's." Amelia walked into the room and held it out to the seated chimera. Zelgadis looked up at her to see that she was keeping her gaze towards the mug full of pens that was on his desk in order to avoid eye-contact. He figured it was from the night before's happenings, since her face seemed to be slightly flushed with red.

"Let me see that," he said as he snatched the envelope that read "_Concerning the Slayers_" on the front from Amelia's hand. "Stay here though. I might need a witness." He stopped Amelia right as she turned to leave.

"Why?"

"Incase it is some other stupid inheritance thing," Zelgadis sighed as he searched his desk drawer for a letter opener. "My grandfather was unfortunately an eccentric man who kept things I never would have thought of. Can you believe that I now own a few acres of complete wilderness in Maine because of him? Not to mention putting a clause in his will that prevents me from selling that baseball team, even if I wanted to."

"That does sound strange," Amelia agreed softly. She watched silently as Zelgadis opened the envelope and began to read the piece of paper that was inside.

_So that's why he still has the team!_ Amelia thought angrily._ ...but he did sound like he doesn't want to sell it anymore. He's such an enigma. Why can't I figure him out?_

"This is ridiculous," Zelgadis moaned, holding the piece of paper out to Amelia and placing his head on the desk. "Shred it at once."

"What is it?" Amelia asked, noticing that the paper was simply a roughly scrawled, handwritten note.

"Proof that my grandfather was insane," Zelgadis said. "It is a note to me saying that one of the athletes on the Slayers is a woman."

"A... woman...?"

"Yeah. You may sound shocked, but that was just the way Rezzo was. The old coot thought Liam Inverse was a woman. That's bullshit. How is it possible for him to be one of the biggest rookie stars in years and still manage to hide something as big as being…"

"…a woman named Lina, perhaps?" Amelia interjected cautiously. Slowly, Zelgadis raised his surprised face to look at Amelia and spoke in a horse whisper.

"What did you say?"

"Is Liam's real name Lina?"

"How did you know that?" Zelgadis questioned in not the angered manner that Amelia had expected, but in one that was nearly excited. He had noticed that the time in which she had glanced over the note was not at all long enough to decipher his late grandfather's horrid penmanship and wanted to figure out how she knew.

"I grew up with her," Amelia admitted. "I have been in on her secret since the open tryouts she was signed at. So has Mr. Kurt and Mr. Xellos. We all have been sworn to secrecy. That's why I didn't tell you until now. We wanted to keep it a secret until at least the end of the season and…"

"That damn old fool," Zelgadis laughed heartily. Amelia looked at her employer with a slight bit of worry. She had never expected to ever see him like this. She waited until he stopped laughing to talk.

"What's so funny?"

"This is a classic example of something he would do," Zelgadis said, having gotten over the uncharacteristic laughing fit. "Clearly you met him before he died. How much did it take to get you to say that?"

"Nothing. It's the truth," Amelia snapped angrily, her stare becoming icy cold. Zelgadis's jaw nearly dropped in astonishment.

"You seriously mean the greatest rookie of the 2006 season is actually a cross-dressing woman?"

"Yes."

"Aw hell no," Zelgadis moaned as he fell back in his chair. "I'm so doomed if this gets out to the public..."

"I think you should give Miss Lina a chance," Amelia said, now more amused at Zelgadis's reaction than offended. "She does really well and has even gotten through an entire season without trouble. Now all she needs to do is get through the play offs without blowing her cover, right?"

"Right," Zelgadis said, looking up at the ceiling. He blocked the very fact that Amelia was still in his office out of his mind and began to talk to the ceiling. "Grandfather. You may be dead, but I still hate your guts for this." With that, Zelgadis could have sworn he heard laughter, along with some chimes, in response.

**80808080808080808**

"Play offs, play offs, play offs, play offs, play offs, play offs," sang Lina in a highly cheerful tone. Kurt was walking next to her as they traveled down a corridor in Jones Soda Stadium that led to the locker room.

"You know Lina," he said. "You've really been creeping me out lately. Being this cheerful is not your style."

"So?"

"Can't you at least tone things down a slight bit? I mean, what if someone catches you?"

"No one's gonna catch me," Lina winked. "Remember: I've gotten this far without a hitch. How in the hell's gonna stop me now?"

"Everyone and anyone if you aren't careful!" Kurt exclaimed as they entered the locker room. He looked around warily to check for other team members as Lina took off her wig and shoved it in her duffel bag. After a few moments, he gave the thumb's up signal and Lina began her unusually peppy chanting once more.

"Play offs, play offs, play offs, play offs, play offs, play offs," she sang again. Kurt slumped down into a chair he had placed right in front of his locker space and moaned.

"Lina, this is only going to be the first game of the post-season. We could get walloped big time."

"We have to stay optimistic Kurt!" Lina announced as she gathered her uniform together and headed over to the bathroom stalls to change. She emerged a half a minute later, fully dressed and ready for the game.

"I forgot, who are we playing again?" Kurt asked dryly as he pulled his uniform shirt on.

"Detroit," Lina snickered. "Gonna be a fun game by the looks of it."

"Only you would say that."

"Of course!" Lina said, giving a v-for-victory and grinning profusely. She saw the melancholy look on Kurt's face that screamed contained nervousness and took it upon herself to change that into a smirk similar to her own. "What's with you?"

"Nothing," Kurt answered, keeping his eyes towards the cleat laces he was tying.

"Did you fight with that new girlfriend you got?"

"I never told you about her."

"No, but you told Amelia two weeks ago and she told me," Lina said all-knowingly. "So... did you two have a falling-out?"

"No. I just don't feel as insanely giddy as you are."

"Liar. I think you are just worn out."

"Nervous is more like it," Kurt sighed. "I can't believe that the league changed the playoffs into a single-elimination tournament until we get to the semi-finals, just so that more teams could participate. This is placing so much more pressure on teams like us, isn't it?"

"Huh, what'd you say?" Lina asked, snapping her gaze in the direction of Kurt. She had not been listening at all, preferring to sit out Kurt's little spiel examining the rather large poster on the other side of the room that so happened to be of the entire Slayers team. She had been quite pleased to find her picture to be one of the largest, showing her smacking her thirty-second home-run out of Jacobs Field when the Slayers were in Cleveland in the month of July.

"You weren't listening to me."

"Sure I was. You were just mumbling."

"Bullshit Lina," Kurt growled. "What in the hell has been with you lately?"

"What's been up with you lately! You act as if you are going through PMS..."

"...I do not have..."

"...Psychotic Male Syndrome, yes you do have it. You've been acting like a little kid for some time now. Are you sure that nothing's up?"

"I'm sure. Sorry I snapped at you," Kurt said, keeping his eyes away from his teammate's gaze.

"It's okay," Lina said. She then grabbed Kurt by the collar and made a fist that hovered menacingly only an inch from his face. "Now if you go all weird on me again, I'm pounding your face in."

"I-I-It's a d-deal," he stuttered, grinning nervously as he eyed her looming fist. Lina smiled. She had Kurt back to the way he always was.

"Hey Inverse, what have we told you about playing nice with the other kids?" someone laughed. Lina and Kurt looked over to the door of the locker room to find Daniel, Jan and Sam standing there with their large duffel bags and laughing at the sight of Lina trying to beat up Kurt, who was near twice her size.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lina sighed, half throwing/half dropping Kurt's collar and giving Sam a high-five as he passed her up. "Ready for the game?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Sam chuckled. "You know, we're almost like a high school team compared to some of the other guys out there. We barely stand a chance."

"Ah, we're not that bad," Jan replied waving his hand in the air with a mockingly feminine flair. "Everyone that is going on the field tonight is a professional, whether they feel like it or not."

"The islander's right Sam," Daniel said as he sorted through his belongings. "You're just too pessimistic."

"No," Sam protested. "I just know that if we do make it past this round, the chance we'll survive will shrink and shrink with every game we play. Besides, the Tigers have been favored as World Series material ever since they stopped playing us in the April mega-series. They're gonna whoop us good."

"Relax," Lina said, her voice sounding clam and collected. "All we have to do is retain our focus and ignore the Wanker, right? I mean, come on now... seriously, how many seasons now have Tigers fans been hoping and praying and falsely predicting another World Series for their beloved team?"

"A long time."

"Exactly. The Tigers are news from 1984, not 2006," Lina said with a grin. "It'll be a piece of cherry cheesecake!"

"So Liam did learn something this season... I'm impressed," Daniel chuckled.

"Yeah, how to get along with you."

Daniel just turned bright red in anger as Lina threw a laughing fit that echoed thought the room. He wanted desperately to at least injure her, but with the game coming in only a few hours, he would have to restrain himself and prepare for something more dreadful than the game ahead... a pep-talk from their manager.

**80808080808080808**

"Now then men," Xellos said, the members of the Slayers all gathered around him in the locker room for his traditional pre-game rant. "We are here at the playoffs. True, that the only reason that we are here is because there are new tournament rules, but we are going to show the world that they should not underestimate us!"

The response that Xellos received was an icy-cold one. Lina was too preoccupied with eating an apple to listen. Aaron was counting the ceiling tiles. Kenny was playing on his cellular phone. Kurt was absentmindedly messing with a rubber band, which he accidentally flung at Xellos's temple. The violet-haired man simply stood there, thinking silently to himself.

_That Greywords bastard does not pay me enough to do this. I could be with my Filia right now. We better lose this game._

"Come on now!" he exclaimed, carefully concealing his disdain. "We have a baseball team to defeat! Are you ready? Are you all pumped for game time!"

A chorus of grumbled replies sounded. Xellos looked around to see that no one was really paying any attention to him.

_I'm really gonna mess with them_, he thought as he walked out of the locker room and into the dugout. _Let's see how a little tweaking of the batting mulls over._

**80808080808080808**

_KERRACK_ went the bat as it connected with the ball, splintering and creating a violent ricochet zooming in the direction of short. Lina easily snatched the bouncing ball from midair and flung it over to Aaron's mitt at first. That made the third out. It had been an easy half for the Slayers with each of the Tigers' batters striking or fielding out of play. Feeling confident about her performance, Lina jogged over to the dugout and took her usual seat on the bench next to Kurt.

"Feeling a little better?" she asked, lightly elbowing her teammate in the side as he sat down as well.

"A little. Catching that pop fly off their catcher was fun," he said, straining a smile. He took off his glove, put it over his face and slumped into his seat to rest.

"Get up Sleeping Beauty," Xellos said, nudging Kurt off the bench. The fielder fell onto the floor of the dugout hard, taken by complete surprise. "You're lead-off batter."

"Goddamn, I thought Jan was the lead-off!" Kurt retorted, getting ready to slug his manager.

"I changed my mind."

"Since when?"

"Since now. Move it ya Pansy!"

Kurt glared as he stomped past Xellos and over to the stairs. He did not even stop to pick out a bat, but blindly took one from the rack as he passed it. Lina smacked the back of Xellos's head as Kurt stepped into the batter's box, a storm cloud looming over his head.

"You idiot," she barked. "That's no way to motivate anyone! He's gonna suck now 'cause he'll be too pissed off at you to concentrate!"

"No he won't."

"Damn you..." Lina growled. She crouched down into her fighting stance and was preparing to finish the fight she started with the man seven months before at the open tryouts when she felt something touch her arm. It was the second baseman Gary. He was holding onto her upper arm, preventing her from attacking their manager.

"Leave him Liam," he growled, angrily glaring the entire time at Xellos. "He's not worth all the trouble at this point. Let him go."

"Alright," Lina scoffed, jerking her arm away. "Just don't stop me if you discover that after the game I decide to finish what we started when we first met."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Xellos said with a spine-chilling grin. The violet-haired man spun on his heel and then read off of his batting list. "Come on! Jan's on deck, then Takashi in the hole and Liam's up after that!"

"Looks like you're cleanup," Aaron shrugged as Lina sat down. He was usually the fourth batter in the lineup, so he was equally confused as Lina was.

"Ball four! Take the walk!" Sunny the Umpire yelled from behind the plate. A bewildered Kurt threw the bat over towards the dugout and lightly jogged over to first base. He wondered as to why he was walked, but then again, the Tiger's pitcher that was currently on the mound had a history of being over-confident, resulting in him filling the bases and then keeping the runs at bay often in order to show off. He got to first and quickly glanced into the dugout and made eye-contact with Lina. He looked dead frightened, as if he imagined that the tone of the whole game was riding on him.

_Damn it all_, Lina swore silently. _Xellos knows that Kurt can't handle opening the game for us. The guy's more of a middle-game man and now he's gonna choke up and blow it...

* * *

_

**Things to Know**

Zelgadis Being Loopy: Well, what would you do? I figured he thought of the whole thing as a joke until Amelia told him otherwise, since that is kind of a joke my story's version of Rezzo would pull.

Laughter and Chimes: Yes, that was Rezzo folks!

Lina and Her Teammates: I figured that if put together for long enough, Lina can learn to tolerate teammates with bad attitudes and the rest of the team can learn to stand her. I was hoping to make this sort of like character maturing. I know this kind of thing happens in real life too. Take my morning classes as examples.


	22. Fortitude Save!

Jeezum crowe. -wipes forehead- I had to write this all in one week. Dang. I need a life. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, Detroit, Vance Wilson and other things like that. Also, do not be surprised if my Monday updating halts. I knew that my schedule would corrupt at one point or another. This chapter was too short for comfort. -hangs head in shame-

* * *

Ni-juu-ni

_Fortitude Save! That Sure Was A Close One!_

Lina held the bat with uneasy hands. It was still the first inning... yet it seemed as if the game had been going on for hours. She had watched Jan ground out and nearly died of a heart attack when Kurt tripped... _literally _into second. Her heart raced as Takashi hit his comfortable base hit, crossing over first base without any trouble at all. Now she was up at bat. Her right arm shook as she held the bat and walked over to the batter's box. The catcher named Wilson took notice of Lina's nerves and signaled to the pitcher that their target was going to be simple. Yeah, as if scaring the hell out of poor Kurt wasn't easy enough. Both men smiled as the referee yelled her customary "batter up!"

"Scared, rookie?" Wilson laughed as Lina unsteadily gripped the bat.

"Tch," Lina scoffed, leveling out her shakiness. "In your dreams."

_Like hell I'm scared! I'm used to batting in the second inning... not the bloody first! What if I blow it! What if there is a double play? Damn, I am way over-thinking this…_

Everything was in slow motion as Lina looked around at the surrounding ballpark. The rowdy fans in the stands, some already drunk from beer they had bought before the game; the motion of the pitcher's arm as he drew back and released his grip; the ball hurtling towards her seemed to crawl along at snail's pace instead of at the ninety-six miles per hour it was _actually_ going… everything took an eternity.

_Swing damn it all!_ Lina thought as she closed her eyes and blindly swung the bat. She could feel the bat connect with something in midair as it passed over the plate. Lina opened her eyes and saw the ball being bounced high over the Tigers shortstop's reach. Quickly, she dropped the bat and began booking for first base before the ultra-swift center fielder could retrieve the ball. Sixty feet to first… he was rushing towards the ball. Thirty feet… he picked it up and threw it over to the baseman. Lina sped as fast as she could to hopefully beat the ball to the base.

_Please make it!_

**80808080808080808**

"…and Inverse is safe at first! The bases are loaded with one out!" AirJay happily announced into the microphone in the batter's box. "That was so cool how he closed his eyes and still hit the ball, wasn't it _bonica_?"

"Yes it was," Naga said haughtily. She petted Kiko lightly as she scanned the field, going from the pitcher, to the catcher and to each of the basemen. "It looks like Rodgers is trying to flaunt his abilities, don't you agree?"

"Yes, that jerk on the mound is not worthy to walk through the gates of this fine establishment if I do say so myself."

"Cool it AirJay, dear. You don't want to upset anyone in the audience, do you?"

"Like I really care about what people think," AirJay scoffed. "I am a mighty warrior of the sea!"

"Yeah, but there are still FCC laws to uphold here," Naga sighed. "Apologies folks, but he's just always like thins... now we have Kenny Rook coming up to the plate."

"Hopefully, he keeps up his hitting streak," AirJay commented, irked at Naga for telling him what to do. He sat down and glanced over at his co-commentator. A smile crept across his face as his eyes found her chest and he remembered why he put up with her to begin with. Shaking his head, he got back into focus. "I mean, he has had a hit at his last eight plate appearances."

"The windup and the pitch... a swing and a miss. Zero, one, on Rook."

"Ah, would you look at that, Liam Inverse is getting a wee bit nervous," AirJay chuckled, noticing how jumpy Lina had become down on the field at first. "It seems as if Fuchs isn't the only one who's rattled by the batting order shuffle. Metallium must be picking the batters by Russian roulette if you want to know the truth."

"...or he's drawing straws. Pop fly into the stands. Zero, two now."

"I wonder when the hot dog vendors are coming up here."

"They aren't supposed to."

"I want some hot dogs and beer!"

"Too bad. Oh! It's a grounder to short! A quick tag at second base and the double play is easily made at first!" Naga said quickly. "It's the end of the first inning here at Jones Soda Stadium and we'll be right back folks after these messages."

**80808080808080808**

"What'd ya say? Mutiny?" Lina suggested to Kurt as they jogged over to the dugout.

"What do you mean by 'mutiny'?"

"You know, overthrowing Xellos. Ousting him from his high and mighty position as our perpetual tormentor."

"Feh," Kurt replied. "The man's not worth the trouble. Damn wanker's messin' up my mojo. He's such a prick."

"Hello there boys," Xellos said as Lina and Kurt entered the dugout to retrieve their mitts. He gave them both a rather disturbing smile, wave and even opened his one eye in a reverse-wink. A chill surged down the friends' spines and they quickly rushed out of the dugout as fast as they could.

"So, do you still think it's worthless?" Lina asked, seemingly disturbed.

"What's worthless?"

"Mutiny?"

"Oh yeah... oi Sam!" Kurt called out. Sam Vilsis spun around and saw the centerfielder standing by the severely shaken shortstop. He lightly jogged over to where they were so that they were within reasonable talking distance.

"What is it Kurt?"

"We're committing mutiny against Xellos during the seventh inning stretch. Wanna join in?"

"Damn straight I will! Any coup against the manager's fine by me!" Sam grinned. He gave Kurt an approving thumbs-up sign and went to jog back to his position on the field.

"That still does not make me feel any better, or erase the fact that the Wanker's creepier than all Hell," Lina shuddered. She left Kurt's side when they reached second base and went over to her position at short. Taking a glance over at the dugout, she saw Xellos waving at her with his ever-spooky grin and wave. Lina's eye twitched as she slowly turned towards third. As she rotated, something smacked into the back of her left shoulder. She turned around sharply to find Gary Polous laughing and Aaron Reeds looking as white as a sheet.

_Damn him_, she thought, glaring evilly at Gary. Picking up the baseball next to her, she fired a fastball aimed at Gary's skull, imitating the stance and movement she had seen the pitcher Will Scott do just the previous inning. Thinking on his impulses, Gary dropped to the dirt, completely avoiding the white projectile. The ball did, however, rocket towards the dugout and whacked Xellos in the back of the neck, sending him down hard.

"Oh shit..." Lina gasped. She stared wide-eyed at where Xellos was standing as some of the players on the bench rushed over to it. It was frightening to think that she could have seriously injured her manager instead of giving him the empty threats, jokes and light beating he usually received.

In an instant, a purple mop of hair sprang up from nowhere and revealed that Xellos was seemingly quite fine. Lina's face turned red as he spun around and waved at her, appearing to have not been affected by the blow at all. Then, in a glazed-over manner, he comedically fainted onto the dugout floor.

"You should have ducked you idiot!" Lina screamed, shaking her fist angrily at the unconscious manager.

"Traitor! The rest of us were all waiting patiently for the seventh inning!" Jan yelled at Lina, a hint of laughter to his voice. Lina gave him a cocky smile before turning back to the dugout to see Esteban Hernandez and Murdoc Rodriguez dragging Xellos out of the dugout area and into the clubhouse for storage. They emerged a few seconds later, giving Lina a thumbs-up sign. Xellos was completely out cold and the team was going to be forced to wing it without their "authoritative figure". Everyone on the Slayers cheered, for it was a good day for all... except Xellos of course.

**80808080808080808**

"I can't believe it," AirJay laughed. "Liam Inverse took out his manager and the Slayers are celebrating!" He smacked the table and cackled. Naga, who was sitting next to him, had her jaw dropped open in speechless awe as to why Lina had not been thrown out by the umpire yet. She could see the blue-haired woman who was acting as home-plate umpire signaling for the Slayers to stop celebrating and continue with the game, but that was about it.

_Holy smokes. The umpire looks unfazed by Inverse's accident_, she thought. Naga scanned the crowd there in the stadium to find that there were many people that were standing up and of all things... applauding._ The only person I know that could possibly get away with something like this is back home. _She looked at the small television monitor that AirJay had placed on the table and saw a close-up of Liam being patted on the back by the second baseman. Naga squinted at the television and gasped.

"What in the...?"

"Did you say something my dear?"

It took Naga a few moments to register that AirJay had been talking to her. She turned her line of vision over to her boyfriend and let out a small "eh" noise.

"Did you say something Naga, Sweet?"

"Oh, no," she replied, shaking her head softly. Inside though, she was screaming her brains out.

_**LINA!** What in the hell is freaking **LINA **doing here? Was that really her all season or is she filling in for a cousin? It must have been her... why have I not noticed it until now? Am I, as her greatest and foremost rival, gone soft? Impossible! Heh. Now I think I am finally going to have to contact my baby sister once again... oh how I love blackmail._

Naga looked at the television screen again as the Tigers' hitter went up to bat and the game got started once again. She continued her job, but took a note for later on when she would have to unearth some old ties that she really would have preferred to stay buried.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Fortitude Save: A reference to my younger brother, who will randomly whip out his D20 and yell "fortitude save!" and try to roll his way out of an unfavorable situation. Unfortunately for him, this tactic does not work on large, brain-deficient jerk-wads who roast nerds like him on a spit in their front yards for parties.

Wilson: Yeah, I don't think he's really that jerk-off cocky in real life. I just call what he was doing a "diversionary tactic" in order to scare Lina stiff. Didn't work. As an after-note, he did have an excellent game yesterday against Cincinnati.

The FCC: Yeah. I'm not all that fond of the FCC. I'm not fond of many things that sensor blood and violence and the good things in life like that. The _One Piece _American dub sucks because of them and the 4Kids company. -shakes fist- Grrrrrr...

Naga: Yes, Naga-san recognizes our Lina! Yay!


	23. The Swelling of Egos!

Finally, after two weeks, I am able to get up my new chapter. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, the Detroit Tigers, Portland, the awesomeness of my reviewers or Naga's unusually thick cranium. I might make my next installment in another two weeks, considering I have the dreaded semester finals to take next week. Also, apologies last week for the FCC rant in the Things to Know. I do realize that they are just trying to do their job. I bet they hate doing their job as much as the amount of flack random people like me give them.

* * *

Ni-juu-san

_The Swelling of Egos! Is This For Real?_

"LIAM!" bellowed Jan. Lina turned her head and without thinking, caught the zooming ball an whipped it home to Takashi. The catcher caught the ball and easily tagged the man attempting to run into home. Fans in the stands cheered for their Slayers as the number of outs in the ninth inning finally amounted to two.

Suddenly, the crowd rose to its feet. They recognized the situation when the scoreboard lights blinked with the second out as official. There was a singular runner still out for the Tigers, being the stone-faced catcher looming about second. That man was the tying run in the top of the ninth inning. Excitement surged through the air as the red-headed first baseman stepped up to the plate, preparing for the possible best and worst the closing pitcher could give him. The batter shifted in place as Daniel and Takashi silently discussed which pitch to use.

_Pick one already damn it!_ Lina cursed silently as the two were deciding to use a low fastball or an outside curve ball. The air became heavy as the decision became more and more difficult to resolve. Lina twitched her mouth as she saw Daniel accept the sign for the outside curve ball. Daniel drew back his arm and thrust the ball forward, hoping to make the best of his opponent. A forceful swing met only air as the batter missed the ball by a hair's breadth. Not only did Lina breathe a sigh of relief, but a few more of her teammates did as well. Everyone on the field tensed up once again as Daniel pitched another ball, this one being the secondary fast ball on the inside of the batter's box.

_Pfft_, went the sound of the ball striking against Takashi's glove as the strike was called, though the batter was able to check his swing. Daniel caught the return ball from Takashi and looked back to second, where Lina and Gary were keeping the Tiger's catcher at bay from stealing third. Good. They were doing their job. Now he had to throw one last strike and his job would be complete as well. The real pressure, the kind that felt like a knot in his intestines, it began to kick in as he began to debate with Takashi silently over the next, hopefully the final, pitch.

One finger... fast ball outside... no way. He hit that earlier in the game. Two fingers... that was the curve ball that he nearly hit. Scratch that one off the list. Three fingers... no knuckle balls today. Four fingers... that was it! Inside fast ball. The batter checked his swing on that _and _he would not expect the same pitch twice in a row. It was perfect. Daniel took a deep breath to calm his nerves and then let loose one of the fastest pitches he had thrown that night. He closed his eyes upon releasing, not wanting to see the result.

_Pfft_, went Takashi's glove again.

"Strike three! You're out of here!" yelled Sunny the Umpire. "Game over! The Slayers win!"

**80808080808080808**

Naga checked the hastily-scrawled note she held in her hand that was inscribed from the contents of a phone book not even forty minutes earlier. In the Maelstrom Apartment Building... check; on the fifth floor... check; at apartment number five-twelve... check... now why in the hell was she so nervous? Maybe it was the way in which she had suddenly left all that time ago or that she was going to show up almost out of completely thin air. After taking a deep, calming breath, she nervously beat on the door.

"Amelia, open up this instant!" she said into the door when her pounding yielded no answer. "Don't you dare ignore me!" She was about to forcefully knock again when a tall, brown-haired man that she did not recognize opened the door and leaned casually on the door frame.

"Amelia's out. Who are you?"

"I should be the one asking you that!" Naga scoffed, pushing the man aside and barging in to inspect the area. "This is supposed to be Amelia's apartment. Why are you still here if she's out?"

"Just watching the place. I don't think she'll even be gone for more than fifteen minutes. It was just a quick run out to the store. We were going to have lunch but she ran out of sandwich bread and..."

"You her boyfriend?"

"Used to be."

"Then why are you here?"

"We're still friends. Why are you questioning me anyways?"

"Let's just call it instinct," Naga looked around to find a picture frame that had Amelia with two other people in Washington D.C., one of whom she expected to be there and the other being the man who was standing right in front of her. "I mean, _someone_ has to play the role of protector in our family."

_Our family…?_ Kurt froze and looked wide-eyed at Naga. Was it her? The one Amelia talked about? Was it really _her_?

"Gracia?"

"Ah, so you do know of me," Naga laughed. She glanced haughtily at him, studying his tense, obviously enraged body language. "Now, who are you?"

"Kurt, like it really matters to you. Where have you been the past eight years?"

"I'd give you the sticky details, but I still have my modesty." She gave a howling laugh that strained Kurt's ears. "Besides, all I really want to do is ask my sister about an old childhood friend of ours." Naga sat down on the couch, clearly refusing to budge.

_Damn it_, she thought to herself. _This idiot fielder is going to get in the way. Why did she have to befriend this dolt?_

"You were uninvited and are very rude!" Kurt snapped, trying his best not to lose his temper. "Stand outside in the hall until Amelia comes back!"

"Don't you dare order me around," Naga sneered.

"Do you think that I really want to!"

"Then don't!"

"You abandoned my friend!"

"It was for her own good."

"By leaving her without an older sister figure? She's told me about how your disappearance left not only her in shambles, but your father as well!"

"She had Lina to take care of her and besides, my father was a goody-two shoes idiot," Naga scoffed. "Me sticking around would have broken his heart even worse." She paused and looked over towards the door. "Hey Ame, is that you?" Then there was a silence. The moment lasted for only a few seconds before Kurt began chewing her out for trying to change the subject. Little did Kurt know that there had been someone at the open door. He just did not come in, instead standing in the hallway, just barely out of sight.

_Who is that woman!_ Zelgadis thought, standing frozen in the hallway. _I did not even get to the door! That in there is definitely _not_ Amelia_. I must have the wrong apartment… He let out a heavy sigh and turned around to leave, but he was surprised to find Amelia standing right there behind him.

"Hello there Mr. Zelgadis!" she said happily. "Did you need to see me for something?"

"N-No, not really," Zelgadis lied, his face flushing with red in embarrassment. "I was just wondering if you…"

"Why don't you come inside?" Amelia asked, cutting off Zelgadis's suggestion of going out somewhere together. The chimera was going to protest and retreat back to the staircase, but Amelia cut him off. "Now why is the door wide open? Hey Kurt! Did you open up the door?" She walked in without a problem, Zelgadis forcing himself to follow.

"Amelia!" Kurt exclaimed as she entered the kitchen, keeping the living area out of her sight. He went over to the doorway between the kitchen and the living area and began to talk in a quick fashion spurred by his panic. "ShejustbargedinandIcouldn'tstopherandshewasmeanandshewasrudeandshewouldn'twaitoutsideforyouand…"

"Hang on!" Amelia protested, halting Kurt's ranting so that he could breathe. After a second, he noticed Zelgadis standing silently by the refrigerator and pointed at him questioningly.

"Oh," Amelia shrugged. She pointed at each man as she casually introduced them. "That's my boss… that's my good friend… now what in the heck is the matter Kurt?" She pushed past him and walked into an empty living area. "Who were you talking about? There's no one here."

"Garcia!" Kurt exhaled heavily. "She was right there on the couch! She was just here talking to me!"

"That's not a very funny joke," Amelia sighed.

"No," Kurt said, pointing at the couch. "She was right there! I am not lying!"

"Kurt, leave. Now."

"Huh?"

Then, before he knew it, Kurt was outside of Amelia's, the door slamming in his face.

…_but she was just there…_

**80808080808080808**

Naga hopped into the passenger seat of the idling convertible and laughed as it sped away. She gently picked up Kiko from the back seat and placed the small white dog in her lap.

"Thanks for keeping the car running dear," she told AirJay as he turned a corner sharply.

"Any time, babe. What'd you got there?"

"My sister's digital camera," she replied with a smirk. She was browsing the camera's memory with relish, going through the proof that confirmed that confirmed her suspicions.

"She loaned you her digital camera?"

"No."

"Did you at least talk to her?"

"Are yo kidding me?"

"Then you broke into her apartment and stole it?"

"No. I'm just borrowing it," Naga laughed. She turned the camera towards AirJay when he came to a halt at a traffic light.

"Whoa, who's the little red-headed flat-chest there with your sister? She looks as if I have seen her before."

"Lina Inverse."

"How do I know that name?"

"She plays baseball."

"Many people play baseball babe."

"Not many play _professional_ baseball though."

If AirJay had not been stopped at a traffic light, he would have slammed on the breaks. Instead, when the light turned green, he slammed down on the gas pedal and sped off dangerously.

"What's the matter?" Naga asked, noticing AirJay's startled face.

"I just put two and two together and I got something that scares the shit out of me," he said. "Are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"

"Liam Inverse?"

"_Ora bolas_," AirJay shuddered. "Sometimes you really creep me out."

"Yep. I had my suspicions since the Tigers/Slayers game."

"That was the beginning of the playoffs! We're covering the semifinals tomorrow with the Yankees/Slayers game! Why did you never tell anyone before... let alone notice?"

"I never looked real hard at Liam before two weeks ago at the Tiger game. It was then that I realized that he beared a strong resemblance to a girl I knew when I lived in my hometown."

"Oh, you mean that creepy little Mayberry-town that is stuck in the fifties and can't possibly appreciate a sexily-fine woman like you?" AirJay said smoothly with a smile. "What kind of great baseball player can come out of Nowhere?"

"Lina can and if she just cuts her hair, flattens what little chest she has and changes her name, she's a man's perfect double. Everything makes sense now."

"What makes sense?"

"Everything you idiot!" Naga snapped. "Why Amelia has pictures of her with Liam on her camera but not a single one with Lina, why Kurt Fuchs was in her apartment while she went out to the store, why Liam freezes up when Gourry Gabriev is always on the mound and she is at the plate..."

"What are you saying?" AirJay said with a fake gasp.

"_Au au au, ruff ruf au_," Kiko barked. _The actions of Liam now make sense! Idiot._

"I know _that_," AirJay scoffed at the dog. "It is just that the last comment doesn't sound completely right. What do you mean that you now know why Liam froze at the plate?"

"I hope you both know that either tells anyone else about this and they die."

"Yes ma'am."

"_Au_."

"I think Liam, who is really Lina, likes Gourry, _or _is at least intrigued by him," Naga grinned, looking through some more pictures on the camera and grinned devilishly. "She's never experienced love before and I think that now's about the time she first gets bitten by the bug."

"Heh, you truly are the one for me. You sound so vicious when you say that," AirJay smirked, sharply turning a corner again and nearly causing an accident.

"Yeah, well, I guess we just have to wait this one out," Naga said as AirJay zoomed onto the highway. "Rumor has it, the Gladiators are working their way up the ladder in the National League."

"Oh! What fun!"

"Au, au, ruf!" _You two are so strange.

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

The Tigers: I really, really, really want them to win the World Series this year. They've been fire-hot so far and it would be more rewarding for me to witness them winning such a thing since I have been behind the team even when they sucked so bad they set the record for losses. Baka bandwagon.

Naga vs. Kurt: Yes, I wrote this on my panic mode, therefore, I feel as if it could be better, but there is no real way to do so. Them encountering each other and then having Naga conveniently slip out before Amelia noticing was fun though.

Zelgadis: What's he doing at Amelia's apartment trying to ask her out? We shall see!

AirJay/Naga: As always, not owning the pairing, let alone the characters of AirJay, Kiko or our umpire Sunny.


	24. The Annoying Time Warping Plot Device!

Ah, so the creature called high school is nearly behind me until September once more. On Thursday, I can begin to concentrate on things like finding a job, writing fanfiction and non-fanfiction, watching more anime and baseball, reading as much manga as possible, doodling fandoodles and trying to swim my way out of the abyss that is the One Piece fandom. Right now I'm trying to get find how to get away from the Zoro/Sanji whirlpool. Male slashing can be so... I don't know... compellingly strange. Strange in a way that I still go and read the stuff however. Nehszriah is not homophobic by any means. It just makes me laugh. I think they're OOC. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, Portland, the New York Yankees (nor do I want to own those guys) or time warps.

* * *

Ni-juu-yon

_The Annoying Time Warping Plot Device! You Beat Them Stankees!_

Zelgadis leaned back in his chair, looking at the clock ticking ominously on the wall. The day had gone by so slowly, he could barely stand it. It felt like the mid-afternoon, though it was only reaching nine-thirty. He wanted to just go home, but he couldn't just pick up and leave.

_Damn it_, he growled to himself. _I never should have made the hours so early. I'm going to wear everyone out._ He stared at the ceiling in frustration. _Grandfather, what do I do? You're such a bastard for just leaving me with all this… leaving me with…_ Suddenly, Amelia sneezed in the next room, interrupting Zelgadis's thoughts for the better. _That's it…_ A sly grin crept across his face. _Today's the day of the Yankees game! How could I have forgotten!_ He bolted up from his chair and out the door.

"Amelia, I'll be back as soon as I can," he said as he rushed out into the hall. He did not see the look on her perplexed face as he disappeared from sight or the casual shrug she gave when she gained no further information.

**80808080808080808**

_Tick... tick... tick_, went the clock on the wall, seemingly becoming louder with every passing second. Amelia looked over at it sleepily and gave out a large yawn. Having not slept well the previous night, she was exhausted even though it was only ten in the morning. Lina and Kurt had kept her up all night, simply because today they were going to face off against the New York Yankees and if all went well, the Slayers would set the record for being the fastest expansion team to go to the World Series, smashing the Arizona Diamondback's breakneck pace of four years. The black-haired woman rested her head on her desk in order to get some more rest. There were no immediate tasks that she had to do since she was waiting for Zelgadis to return. Now was the time for sleep. Good old-fashioned sleep...

"Amelia!" Zelgadis shouted. Amelia jolted up to see that she had been sleeping for an hour and that her boss was standing right in front of her desk.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Mr. Zelgadis," she yawned. "What is it you would like me to do?"

"Wake up for one," he answered, "then come with me. I've decided to close up the office for the day."

"At eleven in the morning?"

"You got it. I sent everyone else home already."

"Already?"

"Yeah, now come on or we're going to be late," Zelgadis ordered. Amelia grabbed her purse and jacket and followed Zelgadis out of the office silently.

_Going to be late?_ she thought. _What could we possibly be late to?_

It was then when Amelia noticed that Zelgadis was not dressed in the business suit he usually donned while at the office, but in a regular-seeming beige t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

_Wait a second...! Since when was he able to change? He was dressed up when I saw him earlier this morning. Oh well. He is most likely going to just take me to eat at that diner again and then let me go home._

"Did you want me to drop you off at your apartment so that you can change?" Zelgadis asked, turning his head so that he could see Amelia's face.

"Ummm... why?" she asked, her face quickly becoming warm with blood.

"I thought work clothes were a bit uncomfortable for just wandering around in, don't you think?"

_This is getting strange. Since when does he take me out and not at least _attempt_ to justify it as 'business'? Maybe he isn't feeling all to well…_

"Sure Mr. Zelgadis," she said politely.

So Zelgadis drove Amelia over to her apartment and within ten minutes later, Amelia was back in the vehicle wearing blue jeans and an emerald sweater. Once she hopped back in the car, Zelgadis began to drive away in complete silence.

"Where are we going?" Amelia asked, trying to break the stoic air. "It would be a little less nerve-wracking if I knew where we were headed off to."

"You'll see when we get there," Zelgadis said sarcastically. Amelia sighed and rested her head against the window. She had a feeling that she was not going to get a straight answer out of him unless she pried it out with a crowbar.

"Hey Amelia, you like baseball, right?"

_What kind of a question is that? Doesn't he remember that I'm friends with Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt? What about the fact that I have my office calendar marked with all the games and have a little green-and-white cat plushie on my computer monitor that I bought on Opening Day?_

"Sure I do Mr. Zelgadis. Why do you ask?"

"I was just double-checking."

"Double checking what?"

"Making sure that this afternoon is not going to be a waste. After all, it is not every day that we get to see our team face off against the Yankees in the playoffs."

"What? We're going to the Jones Soda Stadium?"

"Yeah, where else would the game be played? In a sandlot? The alley behind our office building?"

"I thought you didn't like baseball…"

"So…?"

"You're making no sense. I think you made more sense when I first began training for when you left for the Australian business trip and I barely thought you made sense then," Amelia sighed.

"Ah, I knew you were just faking it," Zelgadis laughed. Zelgadis _laughed_. He actually said something with a laugh that was not his ironically flat usual. On top of that, he said he was taking her to a baseball game. Taking her out to a sporting event that he absolutely loathed? Something was up. She could feel it.

"What's up with you Mr. Zelgadis? You aren't acting like yourself," Amelia said.

"I think I've had a change of heart, or at least want to try to see things from a different perspective for a change."

"That's not like you."

"I know. That's why it's so unexpected, right?"

"Do you need to lie down?"

"No. I feel fine. Now please stop criticizing me or this might become a kidnapping situation."

"What!" Amelia gasped. Zelgadis laughed at his own horrible joke. Amelia sweatdropped at the very fact he was laughing.

_Greeeat…_ she moaned. _He's lost it._

The car ride stayed silent until Zelgadis pulled up alongside the stadium. He hung the season parking voucher in the window and got out. He noticed that Amelia did not get out of the vehicle, instead staring off at the dashboard in deep thought.

"Amelia, snap out of it," Zelgadis said, opening up his door and looking in. "Our tickets are going to be sold if we don't hurry up. They're only going to hold them for about ten more minutes."

"Uhhh… okay," Amelia said, taking off her seatbelt and getting out of the car to follow Zelgadis.

"Now come on," he said, closing his car door and walking away towards the stadium entrance.

"What made you change your mind about going to a baseball game Mr. Zelgadis? I thought you hated the sport," Amelia asked, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Like I said, I had a change of heart. Besides, what kind of owner would I be if I did not attend a single game since acquiring the team?"

"That makes sense for you, but what about me? Why am I here?"

"Well, from what I remember, a baseball game is no fun to go to unless there is someone to enjoy it with, right? Now stay here for a second." Zelgadis left Amelia over by the gate as he went to the ticket booth to retrive their tickets.

_Wow. Mr. Zelgadis sure seems happier than when we first met_, Amelia thought, leaning up against the wall_. I wonder why he needs to get tickets. I always thought owners got a skybox to themselves. Then again, I really shouldn't complain; he is taking me to a playoff game. Against the Yankees on top of that! What luck I'm having._

"Here Amelia," Zelgadis said, holding out a ticket. Amelia snapped out of her thoughtful daze and took the piece of thin cardboard.

Centerfield? she thought as she looked at where the seats were. _Not where I expected…_

"Is something wrong Amelia?" Zelgadis asked. The raven-haired woman looked up and realized that she did not exactly look happy.

"Oh, no, everything's fine," she said. "I just never expected that you would really buy some seats in the stands."

"I don't feel like sitting in that stupid box," Zelgadis said, looking up at the precipitous stadium walls. "It makes me think of my grandfather."

"Oh," Amelia said softly.

"Besides, don't you want to be able to see your friends closer up as they play?" he added. "Any seat in the stands beats the view from the skybox no matter what game it is."

"That would be fun!" Amelia said as she followed Zelgadis up to the ticket-scanner at the gate. There, they were able to get in and wander around for a while before locating their seats. Once said seats were located, however, Amelia and Zelgadis opted to wander around the ballpark some more, not wanting to sit down with an hour before the game.

"Wow, I'm surprised that there isn't more people here," Zelgadis wondered out loud as he and Amelia leaned up against a rail that overlooked right field. There was a thin speckling of people wandering around the park, which usually is the normal amount of people that show up an hour before a baseball game.

"Ah, it's not that uncommon," Amelia giggled. "I've been to my fair share of games and there are times where I've gotten here three hours before. The real crowd comes about fifteen minutes before the game."

"How many games have you been to?"

"I can't remember. At least a couple of series, here and away… maybe about close to thirty-six. I know it's more than thirty though."

"That's crazy," Zelgadis said with a light-hearted laugh. "I would have never been able to sit through them all."

"Well, Miss Lina and Mr. Kurt have been able to keep me company for a good portion of the time I have been in ballparks this summer," Amelia smiled.

"You really like their company, don't you?"

"Yeah. Miss Lina will always be my friend. I remember when we were little and I had found a copy of some fantasy book; I wanted to be a warrior of justice and she wanted to be a powerful sorceress of black magic. We would have "magic duels" and chase around my old dog Warren until my sister came around and smacked us out of it. Lina can never stop being my friend, whether she likes it or not."

"What about Kurt?" he asked, hoping he did not sound nosy.

"Oh, he's fun too," Amelia laughed. "Mr. Kurt is a very silly guy. He's a really good friend too. He swore to be like a brother to Miss Lina. That reminds me, I have to apologize to him for kicking him out of my apartment."

"Was that when I was over a while ago?"

"Yes. I have no clue what came over me," she blushed. "I don't think I've been that mean since… well, I was mad at Miss Lina towards the beginning of the summer. We had a very loud fight then, but we got over it quickly."

"Then I'll remind you later," Zelgadis said, looking down at the grounds crew as they began to take the protective covering off the dusty diamond and prepare it for the encroaching game.

_It's a shame I really don't have anyone like that_, he mused. _Amelia has two people who she can always count on, no matter what. I lost mine. Damn it all…_ He looked over at Amelia to see that she too was watching the grounds crew. A faint smile had made its way across her lips as she gazed at the people milling about from far away. The smile made Zelgadis produce one of his own, though his grin was more thin and stoic.

_I wonder_, Zelgadis thought, looking away from Amelia for a moment. Warily, he shift just a little closer to Amelia. It was not that much, but enough for his shoulder to gently brush up against her's. _I wonder..._

Then, suddenly, a rather unexpected thing happened. Amelia quickly grabbed first his hand, then his arm, bringing their bodies close.

"Look Mr. Zelgadis!" she giggled, pointing up at the sky. There were some old military airplanes from an air show that decided to fly overhead and the roar of their engines rattled everything nearby. "Wow! Isn't that nice of them to do that?"

Zelgadis just nodded his head and agreed, looking up at the sky. He watched as the airplanes flew off into the distance, leaving their pure white jet stream as a reminder in the clear blue sky.

"Amelia," he said after a while. The girl still clinging to him looked up. "Let's go sit down."

**80808080808080808**

"Isn't this fun Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia asked. Zelgadis paused in eating his hot dog and glanced over at her casually.

"Huhmf?" he muttered, showing that he had not been paying any attention. He could barely say any more though, for his mouth was full of hot dog.

"Isn't this fun?"

"Yeah," Zelgadis replied after swallowing his food. "This is definitely and interesting game." It was the bottom of the eighth inning; two outs and Sam Vilsis was on base, first base to be exact. Kurt was up to bat, being the winning run if he made it all the way over to home plate.

_Pitch. Ball._

"Wow, that was really high," Zelgadis observed out loud.

"Inside too. Did you see him dodge it?" Amelia added.

"Yeah. It was really close to him. I'm surprised that he wasn't hit." Zelgadis watched in silence as the pitcher threw another high, inside ball.

_I can't believe how much Amelia gets into a ball game. She's amazingly analytical. Then again, she is good friends with Lina Inverse and Kurt Fuchs. Something _had_ to of rubbed off on her._

It was then that the crowd suddenly erupted into a ferocious rage. The Yankees pitcher had beamed Kurt in the head with the ball. Sunny the Umpire was preparing herself to throw out the pitcher when the manager came out and began to argue with her, only receiving a stone-faced reply from her and hateful shouts from the people in the stands.

"Come on! Throw those bastards out!" Amelia screamed, jumping up to her feet and joining in the round of jeers. "That was low and unjust of you dirty rotten assholes!"

"Amelia?" Zelgadis half-gasped. "What's the matter with you?" He was shocked to hear Amelia use such harsh language.

"What'd you say!" Amelia growled, shooting Zelgadis a fiery glare. Zelgadis shrunk back, embarrassed for invoking her wrath. "Throw out those horrible bastards and their unjust ways!"

_Now that sounds a little more like the Amelia I know._

The crowd, as well as Amelia, kept up the awful insults and taunting until Sunny pointed calmly at the pitcher, then the manager, then over her shoulder to signal their ejection. Cheers resounded throughout the stadium as both men were forced to retire for the afternoon. An even bigger roar was heard when none other than Lina came up to bat.

"Yeah Mr. Liam! Hit it out of the park!" Amelia screamed. "You teach those damn Stankees a lesson!"

"Amelia, please stop that," Zelgadis pleaded.

"I cannot do that Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia said, staring out towards the batter's box. "This has turned into an all-out war against those unjust men! I cannot just sit by and not let Mr. Liam know that I support him all the way!"

_Psychopath, how can Lina hear her from all the way over there?_ Zelgadis thought. _It's just ludicrous._

Ludicrous or not, on the first pitch thrown, Lina smacked the ball all the way over the right field wall, ushering in three more runs. She jumped up and down as she paraded around the bases, the fans in the stands bursting in celebration.

Then the third out came, quickly and unnoticed. The Yankees attempted to rally in the ninth, but were shot down by a strikeout, a grounder to first and a pop fly to… Kurt in center field.

* * *

**Things To Know**

OOC Zelgadis: I sort of wrote this while "learning" about half-lives. I figured this bout of his is character development. At least I feel that he's OOC. Don't know it that's right or not.

The Fly-Over: See, there is an air base about ten or so miles from my house and there are airplanes flying all over the place on some days. Small children and the easily amused like to watch these things.

Stankees: Yes, this is the term my family and I use for the New York Yankees. I'm not very fond of the team. Then again, I bet there aren't many out there truly fond of the Detroit Tigers, right?


	25. What Would Amtgard Do?

Lina: -jumps up and down- Pick me!

Nehszriah: -ponders- Hmmm...

Lina: There is no comparison! You love my story! Don't you dare neglect me! Write about me!

Nehszriah: Hmmm... -sagely strokes chin-

Lina: -grabs bat- Fine! I'll beat it out of you! I'll beat you so hard that you'll hurt every time you even _think _about _One Piece_! Twice as much if the thought's yaoi!

Nehszriah: -eeep- Shit! -scuttles off-

Zoro: The author of this story is just a silly American fangirl, not the owner of _Slayers_. -sweatdrops- Nor does she own me.

Lina: Damn straight you man-whore! -chases Nehszriah-

Zoro: Fangirls are not my friends. -gloom-

* * *

Ni-juu-go

_What Would Amtgard Do? Epic Battle Approaches!_

It was a pleasant autumn day in Portland, just the right kind of day for the start of the World Series. The sun was warmly smiling down upon the ballfield, attracting the baseball fanatics from far and wide. People wandered carelessly about the stadium as the time for the game quickly approached. Many were becoming restless even. That brings us to a certain pressbox in Jones Soda Stadium, where two men, two women and a small white dog sat before a microphone, ready to begin broadcast coverage.

"Óla and welcome to the 2006 World Series of Baseball!" Air Jay said animatedly, thrusting out his arms and nearly hitting Naga and Ramon on accident. "I, the All-Mighty Air Jay, is here in the house along with my faithful dog Kiko and the ever-sexy Naga the Serpent! Now for the starting line…"

"Oi! What about us? Are we chopped liver or something?" Nehszriah snapped, forcing AirJay out of the microphone chair and onto the floor. "Nehszriah Shirubaa Kiri Morgana here with my co-commentator Ramon Wild Punch, here all the way from Knoxville to join the announcers of the Portland Slayers as our home teams go head to head in an American League/National League all-out royal rumble!"

"Hey! Who do you think you are, taking away my beautiful spotlight!" Air Jay barked. He tried fruitlessly shoving Nehszriah away from the microphone, but she resisted and did not budge.

"Don't shove me aside like I'm just a little kid!" she growled.

"You lie!"

"Don't try to do it!"

"Wanna fight?"

"Bring it you Portuguese clam!" Nehszriah said, pulling a dagger fashioned out of duct tape and cardboard tubing from underneath the table and pointing it menacingly at her opponent.

"I'd like to see you try you Dutch salamander!" Air Jay spat as he stood up in the press box, creating an Old West-style stand-off with Nehszriah. He took a lighter from his pocket and ignited the flame with a menacing grin. "I am the true warrior of the sea. It was my ancestors that bravely pioneered the high seas of the unknown in search of the exotic New World…"

"Tch, so what? My lineage boast shipwrights that made the proud Scottish seacrafts, soldiers that created solid empires that completely circumnavigated the globe, merchants that kept trade with Japan and colonized the highly profitable East Indies!"

"Enough with the trash-talk back there! We don't want to hear it, especially if it is about dead people you've never met!" Naga ordered. Of course, neither Air Jay nor Nehszriah were listening and they continued to attempt to psyche the other out.

"_Au, au_," Kiko sighed from Naga's lap. _What idiots_.

"You said it Kiko," Ramon and Naga signed simultaneously.

"Phoenix Fire…"

"Silver Fog…"

"Punch!"

"Slice!"

Air Jay and Nehszriah bolted towards one another. They almost were able to land their respective blows, but Nehszriah suddenly tripped over herself, landing flat on her face. Air Jay gave a v-for-victory, but he forgot that the lighter was still aflame and when he brought his hand by his body, he accidentally singed his shirt and side.

"They're idiots," Naga sighed.

"More like pathetic excuses for _fierce warriors of the seas!_" Ramon yelled back at the two deflated fighters, bringing up their mighty-sounding trash-talk from before.

"_Au ruf-uf au_," Kiko barked. _Let's get back to the topic at hand here._

"Insensitive jerks," Nehszriah grumbled as she went to make sure Air Jay did not completely panic at the self-inflicted injury. She was forced to put the panicking man into a headlock in order to calm him down completely. It was a shame she could not use her druidic capabilities in situations like this, otherwise there would be a room full of defeated enemies. Curses to Amtgard for not being real were muttered as she lugubriously fetched the first-aid box from the cupboard.

"Whatever," Naga muttered, embarrassed for the other members of the press box. "Now folks, it looks as if we are going to have a very interesting series ahead of us, aren't I right Ramon?"

"That's right Naga. No one thought that they could do it… even the members of the teams themselves, but both of the year's expansion teams have plowed their way through the competition with huge strokes of luck on either side."

"Yes. It has truly been a Cinderella Series this time around. I can guarantee that we are definitely going to see a true game of baseball not only in this game, but until a victor is decided."

"Now for the starting batting order for the visiting Knoxville Gladiators!" Ramon quickly cut in, noticing that paying attention to the sea-warrior scuffle cut their broadcast time near in half. "We have Salmonson, Gato, Rakozy, Casa, Romo, Guadalajara, Sol, Long and Blake!"

"I guess this means that now it's time for the starting positions of the hometown team Slayers!" Naga said, catching on to Ramon's hint. "We have Murdoc Rodriguez at first, Gary Polous on second, Liam Inverse at shortstop and Aaron Reed at third. In the outfield, from left to right, is Sam Vilsis, Kurt Fuchs and Jan Oisterwijk. The catcher is Takashi Takeda and the starting pitcher today is Jimmy Gardner."

"These two teams were definitely two teams to watch even back in the beginning of the season," Ramon added, thankful they were able to fit in the important information and move on to small talk.

"Yes, I fully agree," Naga said. "All the way from their management to the athletes, both the Slayers and the Gladiators have been unique teams worthy of their playoff spots."

"I do have to admit our managers are a bit... special..." Ramon said with embarrassment.

"What? You don't have the crazy one!"

"That's what you think." Ramon looked down at the field and saw the manager for the Gladiators doing what appeared to be a tap dance in the dugout.

"Is that...?" Naga gasped.

"Who? What? Let us see!" AirJay and Nehszriah demanded, having recovered from the lighter incident. They pushed their way to the window, resulting in Nehszriah freezing in place as her face turning sheet white and AirJay bursting out into hysterical laughter.

"Back to the point," Ramon sighed, gently nudging aside his statuesque co-commentator so that her could get to the microphone. "May the best team win."

**80808080808080808**

"Kurt, you talk to them."

"I don't wanna talk to them. You talk to them."

"Well, someone has to talk to them."

"I'll talk to them..."

"NO!" Lina and Kurt yelled at Xellos. The three were standing by the clubhouse door, a looming gaggle of sportswriters and reporters clustered out in the hall. Lina and Kurt had promised Amelia that they would go and talk to her before the game, but neither wanted to go and face the possible doom that would result from forging the reporter gauntlet, nor let out their manager and have him say Lord-knows-what.

"Well, the game is going to start soon, they might as well talk to me," Xellos argued calmly.

"Ah, let me think about that for a second. No," Lina snapped. "We need to uphold our reputation and I don't want you mucking it up."

"A reputation for having a short-tempered, red-headed shortstop that could be the enemy of all who dare oppose her?" Kurt piped in. Lina went and proved his point by elbowing him in the gut.

"No... our reputation for having a highly intimidating team," Lina said, folding her arms.

"Ah, but we are facing the Gladiators today," Xellos said smartly, holding up his index finger. "Have we not been trounced by them before?"

"We just trounced them right back!" Lina snapped.

"What about you? Do we need to take extra precaution with you and your _batting situation_?" Xellos's face lit up with mockery.

"No," the shortstop scowled. "What got to me is only one of their pitchers and he's not starting tonight."

"Lucky for us then," Xellos chuckled as he walked off to go bug someone else in the clubhouse.

"That's it," Lina grouched.

"What?" Kurt asked curiously.

"I'm calling her." Lina stomped over to her locker and pulled out a cellular phone.

"Calling who?"

"Who do you think, the president of Scotland?" Lina scoffed.

"Does Scotland even have a president? I thought they had a Prime Minister."

"Exactly." Lina pressed in Amelia's phone number as she walked back to the clubhouse door and hoped to God that Amelia had her phone turned on.

"_Hello?_" a deep man's voice answered, taking Lina by surprise.

"Is Amelia there?"

"_Yeah. She's right here._"

"Who in the hell is this?"

"_Who wants to know?_"

"Does it really matter?"

"_Of course it does. Now, who are you?_"

"A friend of Amelia's."

"_Fine_." There was some far-off sounding noise and the sound of the cellular phone being passed around.

"_Hello?_"

"Amelia! It's Liam."

"_Mr. Liam! Where are you? Mr. Zelgadis and I have been waiting here for you and Mr. Kurt for what feels like ages now!_ _People are starting to look at us funny._"

"Yeah, well, we can't come and see ya right now," Lina said, looking out the clubhouse door again to double-check and make sure that the reporters were still there. "We've got a river full of live ones clogging up the way out of here and if I think we go out through the dugout, someone will spot us and that would be the end."

"_That's okay Mr. Liam_," Amelia sighed sadly into the phone. "_Just tell Mr. Kurt and everyone else that we're cheering for you all the way!_"

"Right. See ya 'Melia." Lina snapped her cellular phone closed and looked over at Kurt. "She didn't sound too upset. She said to say she's pulling for us."

"Okay," Kurt said unenthusiastically. He followed Lina back over to her locker and sighed morosely.

"What?"

"I have a really bad feeling, right here in the pit of my gut," he answered, placing a fist on his stomach area.

"That's called: stop eating three-alarm tacos two hours before a game. Remember what happened in Houston when you did that?"

"My stomach wasn't very happy with me that night," Kurt grimaced. He remembered still quite clearly how embarrassing it was, for the taco meat he had was accidently spoiled and everyone knows what happens to a persons bowels when spoiled meat is unwittingly consumed. He could not play the rest of the series, let us just put it at that.

"Then why'd you eat rancid tacos again?"

"No. I did not get pood poisoning this time. There's something about the game. Maybe we should ask Wanker if we can sit out..."

"Are you nuts?" Lina was about ready to smack Kurt across the face. "Sit out? Not just no, but _hell no!_"

"I really want to play too, you know that," Kurt snapped with frustration. "I just have a bad feeling about playing tonight."

"Was it the salsa? I remember you having the salsa at my apartment this morning and I can't guarantee the freshness of anything in my refrigerator..."

"Liam, I am being dead serious!"

"Really? Well, so am I."

"You really should pay attention to what your teammates tell you Mr. Inverse," Xellos advised, popping up out of thin air once again. Lina and Kurt jumped when they both realized he was there and glared angrily at their manager.

"...and you really should pay attention to who has a bat near them when you play your reappearing act!" Lina snapped, grabbing her favorite bat from her locker and pointed it threateningly at the purple-haired man. "You have crossed me for the last time! I'm gonna teach you a lesson you'll never forg...ick!" Lina was cut off by Kurt clenching the back of her collar and physically dragging her through the clubhouse.

"Why do you always force me to do this?" he sighed. His face turned a slight reddish color as he noticed all the other players laughing at the scene they were making.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything besides let me go!" Lina said, struggling to break free of her friend's grip. Kurt just sighed again and walked up the stairs to the dugout, the nauseous feeling in his stomach becoming worse with every step.

_Please, don't let anything go wrong..._

**80808080808080808**

"Mr. Zelgadis, I thought that you didn't like sitting up here in the box."

"You're right. I don't."

"Then why are we?"

Zelgadis slouched down a little further in his chair and looked over at Amelia. She appeared to be genuinely confused, wondering as to why both of them were sitting in the owner's skybox after he had condemned it before.

"It just looks good for the team, that's all. If I didn't have to watch the game here, we wouldn't be having this conversation and would be in the stands with everyone else," Zelgadis explained. He shifted in his seat again, remember the last time he was sitting there. It was Opening Day, when Frances had come on to him so... openly. One more reason to avoid the place. It seemed so long ago that if Zelgadis was not aware of exactly when it was, he could have mistook it for being a few years earlier.

"Okay," Amelia said, leaning forward to get a better view of the field. "I do hope that Miss Lina does well today, don't you?"

"Sure," Zelgadis grumpily replied. Amelia shifted uncomfortably in her own seat and frowned.

_Why is Mr. Zelgadis being so grouchy?_ she wondered._ He seemed perfectly fine a few days ago. Maybe that was just an unusually good day or something like that. _She looked down at the field to see Kurt nearly dragging Lina out of the dugout and onto the field, preventing her from potentially harming their manager. The redhead was forced to shout obscenities at Xellos instead as the violet-haired man cackled and bit his thumb at her. _Please contain yourself Miss Lina. This is the last leg of the playoffs. Don't blow it now...

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

Amtgard: The live-action role-playing thing that I really want to join. I am in the practice stages right now, but I am in a group of kids who want to start a chapter up where we live. It's gonna be a shire completely made up of junior members though since none of us are twenty yet. Yet what would Amtgard do in -any- situation? Put on garb and hit people with foam. In my case: forget the garb, wave around arms while chanting and poking others with (the ever illegal) cardboard tubing and duct tape.

AirJay vs Nehszriah Battle Royale: Something I made up one day a while back while sitting in Chemistry. Actually, I don't know when I exactly wrote the chunk of it, only that I did it in about fifteen minutes and on a complete roll, insults, boasting and all.

The Gladiators Manager: My muse: Jim Leyland. Tigers manager. He's so flippin' strange for a manager. He hugs his players, cries, blows his top at the umpire (that was fun to watch) and scares the absolute shit out of everyone with his managerial decisions. Therefore, in his example, all baseball club managers should be crazy. Another good example: Ozzie Guillen and his metal folding chair of death.


	26. Is the Jig Up?

Yay! Now, ahead of all you lucky readers is -gasp- some drama. So dramatic I cried. Not really, but it made me want to. Sort of. I do not own _Slayers_, Portland, Knoxville, my reviewers, line dancing or the OOCness of the unusually calm Naga. -produces Slayers novel- Fear me.

* * *

Ni-juu-roku

_Is the Jig Up? Let Us All Blame Xellos!_

"Stupid-ass Wanker!" Lina screeched. "Come on out here and fight like a man! I can take ya, chicken!"

"No can do Inverse," Xellos giggled from the dugout as the rest of the team passed his to go to either the field or the bench. "You just let off steam and we'll talk later."

"Kurt, you can let go of me now."

"Not until we get to second," he replied. Lina folded her arms and walked decidedly backwards until Kurt released her collar as they reached the midway point between their two positions.

"Stop that."

"Stop what Lina?"

"Treating me like a kid."

"I do not."

"You do too."

"What would make you think that?"

"You're dragging me out here, aren't you?"

"I treat you like a sibling," Kurt argued. "We agreed that is how we would act towards one another. Back in April, right?"

"Right," Lina muttered. She stormed off towards her place at short, leaving Kurt to join Sam and Jan in the outfield for a warmup game of catch.

**80808080808080808**

"You know Naga, I doubt that we could have asked for a better game today," Ramon said from the broadcasting booth. "Here we are, top of the second now and both teams seem to be evenly matched."

"Yes, despite antics from both managers towards each other and their athletes, this meeting seems to be one of two tightly woven entities," Naga added, a tic mark forming on her clenched fist as AirJay and Nehszriah played with Kiko in the background. Well, the word for it was not necessarily playing per se. The situation was more Nehszriah having a fight with the small white dog and the pyromaniac being the referee.

"I've noticed how brotherly the members of the Slayers are towards one another," Ramon continued, forcing Naga to put her fist down at her side. "Inverse and Fuchs in particular."

"Well, it is only natural, since the two have spent their rookie year together. They had to share the exact same trials and tribulations." Naga glanced down at the field. "Looks as if we have Francisco Casa of the Gladiators up to bat."

"You know, I have really been watching him all year and this guy has some _power_ that Gardner does not want to mess with. He really should just throw high heat, maybe a sinker, otherwise his playoff ERA will definitely suffer for it."

"I bet. Just looking at him leads me to believe that he is naturally built for slugging."

"Stop looking at other men!" AirJay whined from the back.

"She's freakin' paid to do that!" Nehszriah snapped as she stood up, having just been able to release Kiko from her arm.

"Wanna fight _Oranje_?"

"Bring it, cheater."

"Cheater?" AirJay asked, sounding shocked. "I think you are just a poor sport. We just play better football..."

"That's it!" Nehszriah snapped, tackling AirJay, starting another fistfight.

"Act your ages for once!" Ramon sighed. After shaking his head in disappointment, he returned his attention back to the game. "Ball one on Casa."

"What in the world is that man doing?" Naga whispered, leaning forward so that she could look down and see the field easier. Ramon, curious, joined her. AirJay, Kiko and Nehszriah even paused their fight to investigate.

"Jeezum crowe," Nehszriah gasped, her face turning red. "I knew he was mental, but this is ridiculous."

"For all you folks out there listening to the unorthodoxy of this broadcast, it seems as if the Slayers manager, Xellos Metallium, is doing the Chicken Dance on top of the dugout. Lord only knows why, but he is," Naga said in a nonchalant manner.

"This guy is crazier than you told me he was," Ramon said with surprise. He looked over at AirJay, who clearly seemed unimpressed.

"He's a dork," AirJay said, rubbing his temples. "Ignore him."

"Auf, uf, au." _What a creep._

"You said it Kiko," Nehszriah sighed. "You said it."

**80808080808080808**

"Get the hell down from there Wanker!" Lina yelled at Xellos from the field. She knew she was supposed to be paying attention to the game, but the man that was up at plate usually hit into right field, not left or even down the center. "Come on and stop that already! You're making a fool of yourself!"

"Liam! Pay attention God damn it!" Gary snarled, annoyed at how the shortstop was technically yelling through him instead of directly at their manager, since he was physically between them.

"I can't concentrate with him doing that!" Lina griped. She snapped her head towards the batter as she heard the distinctive crack of a ball connecting with a bat. Luckily, it was just a grounder to second, Gary gracefully scooping it up and tossing it to Murdoc for an easy out.

Then, the team's nightmare occurred. The man playing the stadium's music apparently was having fun watching Xellos act like a mental patient and put the Macarena on over the intercom.

"The frick...?" Lina snarled. She was as dumbfounded as she possibly could have been, staring at Xellos with a disgusted look on her face as he shimmied on the dugout roof. She heard the crack of the bat again and looked back towards the batter.

The line drive only gave her eyes time to grow wide.

To her teammates around her, it was like watching a slow-motion horror effect. To everyone else watching from the stands or on televison, it happened in less than an eye-blink's time. Lina had positively no time at all to react due to the fact she had been distracted by Xellos's dancing for so long. She stood there as the baseball connected with her face, crushing the bridge of her nose and splitting open her skin. Flying helplessly backwards, Lina could see a trail of blood linger in the air as she fell down to the ground.

"LIAM!" Kurt screamed. Lina could barely hear his voice. Everything she heard was muffled. Her vision was incredibly blurred. For a moment, she could not feel anything, but once she hit the ground, her face erupted in an explosion of pain. Lina curled up, clutching her face in agony.

_Make the pain stop! **The mother f... aaargh!**_she thought angrily.

"Kurt! Help me get him out of here!"

_That sounds like Gary. Go the hell away! Let me be damn it._

"Hang in there Liam!"

_Takashi, get your ass back behind the plate._

"Liam, stay awake!"

_Kurt, you're a moron. Do you really think I want to **sleep **at a time like this?_

Suddenly, Lina felt herself being lifted up. She tried to move her arms and legs to fend off the hands that clutched her body, but she was unable to budge.

"Stay calm Liam."

_Kurt Niels Fuchs, put me down or I am **beating the shit out of you **once I can move and see again._

She was moving now; Lina could not doubt that she felt movement. The softened voices around her grew quieter and quieter with each passing second. Everything was a mixture of fuzzy colors and crimson. A throbbing pain pulsated throughout her forehead, making the injury even more bothersome. The air became cooler as the person carrying her unevenly went down a flight of stairs.

_I must be in the clubhouse now. Don't I need medical people here or something? This freakin' **hurts **like a **bitch**._

"Kurt, is there something you and Liam are hiding?" Lina could hear Gary ask as Lina was put down on a very hard wooden bench.

"Umm... no..." the fielder muttered. The distance of his voice led Lina to believe Gary was the one that had been carrying her.

_Ah, shit._

"Don't lie to me, asshole. Liam is not 'Liam', is _she_?"

_Damn it! He must have gotten to me before Kurt could! You pain in the ass..._

"W-W-What..?" Kurt stuttered, trying to sound as if he was out of the loop.

"Don't try to tell me otherwise! I can tell when I am carrying a guy and when I'm not!"

_Now, how would he know that? Is there something **you're **not telling us?_

"Listen, Gary, you don't understand..."

"Just tell me the truth! Is that really a _Liam_?"

Kurt sighed. "No. Her name is Lina."

_**I'm gonna kill you.**_

"I can barely believe it," Gary said quietly, barely loud enough for Lina to hear. "All this time, Liam was just..."

"Yeah. Amazing, huh?"

"Just what in the hell are we going to do we do with her now?"

_Are you kidding me! What do you mean by that? It's called **a hospital**! Oh, damn! I can't go to the hospital! **They'll report me!** That is, if Gary doesn't report me first..._

"I think we should get Aaron," Kurt suggested.

_The kid's **dad **was a medic. That doesn't mean he is. **Dumbass**._

"There should be a nurse somewhere around here... I think... we should go find her," Gary said. Lina could not see it, but he was looking down at her nose and cringing, chills going up his spine at the sight of her blood.

_Should have done that first, genius! Question: why do I get the **Keystone Cops **to take care of me when there should have been **professionals **from the **start**?_

"Here I am! I came as quick as I could!" a new voice said. The person was decidedly female. In fact, familiarly female.

_Who in the hell is that? I've heard that voice before. Where?_

"Hang on there Liam. I'm a nurse and certified to take care of you."

_The **frick!** That's Maliska!_

Lina could feel a soft hand brush up against her own that was cupped against her face. She was just able to swat Maliska's hand weakly, not wanting her to find out anything. The effort was futile though, for Maliska was able to move away Lina's hand and start wiping off her forehead and face with something cool and wet.

_Go away. Not you too._

"Come on now Liam. It will be okay. Hey Kurt, do you know if his cousin is here at the stadium? I think she might want to come over here."

"His cousin?"

_Gary, just keep quiet!_

"Yes, his cousin. Her name is Lina Inverse. I know that she knows Kurt, because I saw them together at the All-Star Fan Fest in July."

Gary just laughed.

"Stop it man!" Kurt snapped. Lina could hear the faint smack of Kurt hitting Gary on the arm. "Let Miss Maliska do her work!"

"Thank you Kurt," Maliska said. There was a rustling of containers and objects and the sound of her opening something.

**_AAAAAHHHH! PISS!_** Lina cursed to herself as the redheaded woman put something that stung horribly onto her wound. She writhed violently in pain, accidently smacking Maliska backwards onto the ground.

"Ow!" the woman exclaimed.

_Oh damn. I'm sorry. This just **REALLY HURTS!**_

"Here, I should have done this first," Maliska said, having gotten quickly over being struck. Lina felt something poke at her open forehead, then after a slight stinging sensation, the pain in her forehead and nose vanished.

_What the hell did she do to me?_

"Yeah, you really should have given her the painkiller first," Gary said blandly.

"Her?"

_Shit Gary, now I have to kill you too! Wait... Maliska stuck a **needle **in me! **PISS!**_

"Yeah, didn't you kno...mph!" Gary said, his voice obviously cut off by Kurt's intruding hand.

"Nothing Miss Maliska! Nothing at all! Poor Gary here's just in shock over the blood. Can't stand the sight of it _can you_?"

"Kurt, you ass," Gary snarled as he shoved his teammate away. "What's the big deal?"

_Finally, someone else who understands._

"What's going on here you two?" Maliska demanded. "If there is something I have to know about Liam Inverse, then spit it out right now!"

_List of people to kill has now lengthened to **three**!_

"Liam never existed," Gary said. Lina could hear Kurt groan in a frustrated manner and kick his locker.

"What are you talking about?" Maliska asked slowly. "He's right here in front of us."

"That right there is no Liam. That right there is a Lina."

_Gary, you have surpassed Kurt on my hit list. Congratulations. You shall be my first victim._

"Lina...? Impossible...!"

"It's not," Kurt growled through clenched teeth. "Please Miss Maliska, don't tell anyone about this! That's why we haven't brought her to a hospital yet! I know that she needs medical care, but she'd kill me if we brought her to some place where her identity could be spilled to more than two people."

_I already want to murder you for the two._

"Is it even possible for you to sew her up right here?" Gary inquired.

"Yes... but..."

"Please do it," Kurt pleaded. Lina let her head fall sideways so that she could see a blurry outline of what had to be Kurt running over to Maliska. "Please, we can't let anyone else know about this. Not yet."

"I don't know..." Maliska said nervously. "I could lose my license."

"Lia... erm... Lina, don't tilt your head like that," Gary sighed, going over to Lina and making her face the ceiling. "The blood's getting all over the floor."

_This bites. Nurse Gary to the rescue. Damn._

"Well, I think that maybe we should move her over to another room, instead of being out here in the open of the clubhouse where anyone can walk in and see her," Maliska said, sounding more like a medicinal authority. "Come on you two, we've got to get her out of here."

"Yes ma'am!" Kurt said. He went and picked up Lina gingerly, being careful to keep her head supported so that Maliska could look at her forehead and shattered nose clearly.

"What if she's got brain damage? Wouldn't that mean that we can't move her at all?"

_No brain damage here, moron._

"The fact she's not twitching spasmodically without a catalyst is a good sign. I have faith in the fact that we can move her."

_You've been a nurse **how **long again? A **nurse**. Not a **doctor**. **NURSE!**_

"Then let's go," Gary said. Lina could feel Kurt walking now, most likely alongside Gary and Maliska.

_I hate you all_, Lina thought, weakly trying to lift her arm. _Damn. Why can't I freakin' move?_

"Mr. Liam!" screamed Amelia's voice. The feeling of Kurt's heart skipped a beat as Lina felt him turn towards their friend.

"Her wound's gotta be sewn up quick, but not where people can see," Maliska explained. Amelia let out a small gasp.

"You figured it out?"

"We had to be told," Gary said. "I figured it out though."

_Yeah, pervert._

"Then I know where we can take her," said a voice Lina did not recognize. "Come on and follow me."

"Really Mr. Zelgadis?"

"Yeah, now hurry! I bet the press will get here any minute!"

_Zelgadis? **Zelgadis Graywords**? Amelia, since when do you get around like that? Heh._

"Hey, she's smiling!" Amelia gasped. "Miss Lina? Can you hear me?"

Lina was barely able to groan. It hurt to do much more than think. It hurt to think before, but since the shot of painkiller, her thinking processes went along just fine.

_Amelia, kill them for me... **please**?_

"Come on, we got to move, now!" Zelgadis roared from down the hall. Lina's ears stung when she heard his yell. Her ears regained full ability now, so she was able to clearly listen to what was going on around her. That did not help when the only clue she had to where Kurt and the others were running to was that it was on the same level as the clubhouse.

_If I die, it's your guys's fault.

* * *

_

**Things To Know**

ERA: Acronym for _E_arned _R_uns _A_verage, or how many people a pitcher allows to score on his duty. Really good pitchers have a really low ERA ( less than three) with tons of innings pitched. Innings cumulative is something to keep in mind as well. A person who allows two runs in three innings is much worse than a person who allows two runs in thirty.

Oranje: That be how the Dutch spell the word "orange". Also, I actually added AirJay vs Nehszriah Part Deux last minute. It refers to yesterday's World Cup game. That was a nasty thing to sit though. Three red cards... per side! The referee was a joke and neither team played their best and fairest... in my opinion. It was so awful, on top of being awkward, it nearly killed me!

Chicken Dance and the Macarena: I think that's who you spell Macarena. Tsk, tsk... crazy mazoku general.

Lina's Predicament: So she can think still. In fact, she can think with salty language to boot! Now when she ordinally went down on the field, I was thinking that it went a bit too... stupidly, but then I imagined her going down like people in anime that are shot and they kind of have that silhouette thing where they arch their back as they fall. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. The coolness. Still, I really am stretching a lot with the whole handling of her injury. Kurt and Gary, if they were _normal _athletes, would have stayed on the field.

Maliska: Yes! She is back! Trust me, I do not own the Maliska character. The part though, about Lina yelling at her for being only a nurse and not a doctor, that was nothing intended to be mean, just sarcastic.


	27. Stop Scaring the Dickens Out of Us!

So I have not updated in over a month. This can be explained in three words: _summer **of hell**_. My summer has pretty much been blown with the sickness of multiple old men of blood relation, death of one, constant hospital visits and the rehabilitation of the other, near perpetual babysitting and a writer's block that effects everything to boot. Most of what I've been doing lately is reading. Besides, my muse got temporarily addicted to One Piece. With any luck, that's gonna simmer down soon. -sweatdrop- My luck sucks. I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, ect.

Ni-juu-nana

_A Horrific Experience! Stop Scaring the Dickens Out of Us!_

Zelgadis threw open the door of the empty conference room and let everyone in. Now, what exactly Rezzo had thought when he decided to put a conference room underneath the ballpark, Zelgadis really had no idea, but the old coot's eccentric ways did seem to prove useful now. It was just the perfect place to hide Lina and everyone else as the panic over the bleeding redhead ensued.

"Put Lina up there on the table," Maliska ordered. Kurt gently set his friend down and was forcefully shoved away by the nurse.

"Whoa! You could have just told me to move!"

"There's no time. I have to get his wound to stop bleeding and sew it up!"

"Will Miss Lina be alright?" Amelia asked, worry plastered across her face.

"Sure, as long as she doesn't die on us."

"Gary!"

"It's the truth, right Kurt?"

"Don't tell Amelia these things!"

"She can handle it."

"Stop bickering!" Maliska barked. Kurt and Gary paused their thoughts and stood there blankly. The redhead had sharp objects at her disposal and it was decided to be in their best interests to keep quiet.

"Is Miss Lina going to be okay?" Amelia asked nervously as she watched Maliska get out the needle and wire to sew up Lina's open wound.

"Of course she's gonna be okay!" Maliska smiled. "I haven't lost a patient yet!"

"Doesn't that mean that you are more likely to lose her?" Zelgadis stated. Maliska shot him an ugly glare and continued working. Zelgadis cringed backwards to put some more distance between the nurse and himself.

"Don't say things like that Mr. Zelgadis..." Amelia whispered. "We don't want to anger her. She could get into big trouble for this..."

"Zelgadis...?" Gary cut in. He walked over and looked the chimera in the eyes. "You're the team's owner?" Zelgadis was relieved to hear the baseman's voice sounding more surprised than threatening.

"Yeah, I am," Zelgadis said matter-of-factly. "Why would you ask?"

"I just don't think I have ever seen you before, that's all," Gary said. Zelgadis could see that just beyond Gary, Kurt was rubbing his temples in frustration.

"There! All done!" Maliska announced. Everyone else in the room looked over to the table and saw that Lina did indeed have stitches right between her eyebrows and that the wound was neatly closed. If it were not for the thin black knots in her skin, the injury would have only looked like a minor scrape.

"Thank goodness!" Amelia said. "Now what?"

"What do you mean by 'now what'?" Maliska snapped. "Lina could still have some head trauma from the impact. We have to get her to a real hospital."

"We can't do that!" Kurt said defensively, stepping closer to the table. "You know what will happen if we take her to a hospital!"

"It's either her secret or possibly her life!" the redheaded nurse screamed. Kurt slightly recoiled and looked at Maliska blankly. "She could need treatment that she can only get at a hospital! What if she never wakes up, huh? Then what?"

"I'll kick your ass."

"Wha..." everyone gasped. They all looked over at Lina to find her clutching her forehead.

"You heard me," she growled as she rolled off the table and fell hard onto Kurt's legs. "I'll kick your ass if you bring me to a hospital."

"L-L-Lina...?" Kurt squeaked as his teammate used his legs for support in getting up. "What are you doing?" His face flushed with crimson embarrassment as Lina pretty much scaled him until she was able to prop herself on the table.

"There's a game to play."

"Not for you there is!" Amelia scolded, shoving Lina down in a nearby chair. The force of Lina falling into the chair was enough to wheel it back into the table. "You just scared us half to death! No more baseball for you until you are healed!"

"Can I at least beat the hell out of those three?" Lina asked, pointing to Kurt, Maliska and Gary.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It would put you more at risk to develop serious complications with your injury. Complications that could very possibly end your career."

"Piss."

Lina folded her arms and pouted. It was unlike her to miss a game due to injury. She had always played through pain. She felt it was weak to stop playing when she could still walk, even if it was barely. Now she could walk, see... and best of all... cuss.

"What the fuck am I going to do?" she barked. "Baseball is my life and if you take that away I'm a pile of crap, you hear!"

"Miss Lina! Don't you dare talk like that!" Amelia scolded.

"I'll talk how I want to, you hear?"

"Maybe that ball did a bit more than give you a cut on the head," Gary muttered.

"Oh, yeah, I never asked you two to carry me down to the dugout! Who are you guys anyways, Laurel and Hardy?"

"Hey, we were concerned!" Kurt snapped. "It was better us take you quickly before the medics arrive and reveal that you're a woman to everyone!"

"I could have gotten up by myself if you had let me be for a while," Lina growled.

"Yeah right! Can't we be concerned here? If Gary and I..."

"I don't want to hear it!"

"Stubborn witch!"

"Idiot jackass!"

"Hey," Gary whispered to Amelia, Zelgadis and Maliska as Lina and Kurt argued loudly. "I'm going to go back to the game. Make it look like things went off alright."

"Good," Amelia said. "Go tell Mr. Xellos that Lina's okay."

"Maybe I should be the one to go and tell him that," Maliska piped up as she gathered her things from the table. She and Gary scuttled out of the room, leaving Amelia and Zelgadis to attempt to control Lina and Kurt.

"Do you hate me or something?" Kurt snapped defensively.

"I hate how you just butt into everything!"

"...and what's wrong with covering your tracks for you every once and a while? I swear, if I weren't around sometime..."

"If **_you _**weren't around sometimes...? Without me, you might not even be here!"

"Yeah, because you came late and got picked first!"

"That's not my freaking fault!"

"Then who's fault is it going to be!"

"Wanker's!"

"Just because..."

"ENOUGH!" Zelgadis bellowed, shutting up Lina and Kurt. Both ballplayers glared at their owner and grumbled something inaudibly.

"What's wrong with you two?" Amelia scolded, coming between Lina and Kurt like a referee. "You guys are supposed to be friends!"

"This is insanity and I am not going to stand for it," Zelgadis warned. "Lina, Kurt, both of you are going to have to drop it right now."

"Who are you?" Lina asked, looking over and examining the chimera.

"I am Zelgadis Graywords... your team's owner and your high boss."

"Tch. Since when are you all authoritarian?" Lina sneered. "I thought you hated owning the Slayers."

"I did when I first got it," Zelgadis replied. "Now I see though, that I need to take charge a little more, huh?"

"Why start now, you damn prick?" Lina grumbled. She pouted and sat down hard in a chair while Zelgadis's face began changing color and Amelia and Kurt's eyes began to twitch.

**80808080808080808**

"...and we brought it to you first folks," Ramon said into the microphone. "Liam Inverse hit by a line drive and carried off the field by her teammates... what a drastic turn of events for the Portland Slayers." From up in his pressbox seat, he and the rest of the commentators saw everything that had happened down on the field and were now waiting for play to resume again.

"I don't know about you Ramon, but I doubt how well the Slayers are going to be able to preform tonight without their two star rookies in the lineup," Naga sighed heavily, slumping back into her chair and rubbing her temples. "The situation is looking bleak here. What do you two back there think?"

"Auf, au, auau, ruff, au," Kiko barked. _Give them a moment, will ya?_ By where he stood in the corner, both Nehszriah and AirJay were sitting on the floor, shell-shocked about what they had just seen.

"That was... awful..." Nehszriah was just able to squeak. "He isn't even on my team and... I feel so bad for him..." AirJay tried to put in his own comment, but his vocal cords were temporarily rendered useless.

"This is going to be a long delay by the looks of it," Naga said. "Now, for a word from our sponsors." Just as she flicked the switch to go to commercial, the door to the pressbox slammed open, hitting the two frightened commentators and revealing Maliska standing in the doorway.

"Maliska, what are you doing here?" Ramon asked in a rather confused voice. "You're supposed to be in Pittsburgh, aren't you?"

"No," the nurse said, swallowing the nervousness she had stuck in her throat. "Li...Liam Inverse is going to be alright. I checked out his wound myself. He should be back playing baseball within a few days."

"That's a relief," Naga said, a smug smile across her face. "How about by the end of the series?"

"Not a very good chance of it by what I saw." Naga's smile dropped slightly.

"...but he'll play again."

"Definitely."

"Good then. Thank you," Naga smiled. Maliska nodded her head thankfully and closed the door on her way out, allowing AirJay and Nehszriah to fall to the floor in a state of semi-consciousness.

"What do you find so pleasing about this?" Ramon snapped, noticing the grin on Naga's face.

"Oh, nothing that would interest you," she said sweetly, batting her eyes at the man sitting next to her. Ramon just shrugged it off as a muffled threat from AirJay was heard to "stay away from his woman".

_So, now one more person at least knows_, Naga thought as she glanced down to the ballfield. _No, my mistake... two people. That nurse and Gary Polous. This is going to serve to become very interesting indeed..._

"...and we're back here live from Jones Soda Stadium as we come at you broadcasting the 2006 World Series of Baseball," Ramon said, flipping the switch for the microphone on. "My name is Ramon Wild Punch..."

"...and I'm Naga the Serpent and right now, for those of you just tuning in, the tide seems to have turned for the worst for the Portland Slayers as a line drive off the bat of Francisco Casa crashed into the skull of Liam Inverse, who was unprepared for the moment as he had been distracted, along with the rest of the ballpark, by his manager doing the Chicken Dance on the dugout," Naga added, taking her cue flawlessly.

"Yes, yes," Ramon sighed. "It just has been informed though, that Liam is currently stable and will be able to play baseball once again, but what we need to figure out is how to get this game back into gear with three members of the Slayers' lineup gone and seven more innings of game play left."

"What's this? I think I see Gary Polous coming up from the clubhouse!" AirJay said, having finally crawled over to sit in a chair painfully between Ramon and Naga. "Yes it is! He is also followed by two other members of the Slayers, seemingly in order to take the place of Liam Inverse and Kurt Fuchs."

"I guess you're right there," Ramon said. He looked down onto the field again and suppressed a giggle. "Hey, it looks like Xellos Metallium is being thrown out of the game! That's it Sunny! Throw him out!" He punched the air in excitement as the blue-haired woman on the field pointed to Xellos and mimed the action of pulling on a chain.

"Oh man, that's gotta hurt!" AirJay snickered as he watched Xellos mime being pulled violently by Sunny's invisible chain and slammed himself into the dugout wall.

"Let us all hope that Metallium has leaned a valuable lesson," Naga said as everyone prepared for the continuation of the ball game. "Dancing poorly is something to do in private, not on the top of a stadium dugout in the middle of a highly important game.

"Agreed," said the other three human members of the pressbox in unison. Kiko shook his head in agreement.

**Things To Know**

Usage of the Four-Letter Word: By law, there can only be one instance of the word f""ck in a work for it to still be a PG-13 or T rating. One more instance and it all turns into a R or M rating. This explains how my younger brother can buy a copy of Flogging Molly's album "Swagger" without our mother's consent, despite the song lyrics for "Black Friday Rule". Besides, Lina's pissed, and I have seen many T fictions with f""ck in it. Multiple times.

A Moment of Silence: ...for the World Cup. -sighs- There's no standing my Italian acquaintances now. -bows head- Really, I still am hearing it.

Lina vs Kurt: Don't hate it! I actually needed Kurt to just blow up and start taking Lina on. She's been going around near recklessly and needs to be put in check.

Next Update?: Hopefully not in another month and a half's time. I really want to finish this before the regular season's over with. Man, am I gearing up for a Tigers themed post-season. Oh, try not to expect the next chapter in a week. I'm not sure if writer's block is cured _that _easily.


	28. A Few Slight Time Warps?

Whoo! My last update was so long ago! August! That's not right. Apologies abound. Mainly, the three big reasons for not updating were: A) One Piece stealing all of my creativity, B) beginning my senior year at high school and C) I had no clue as how to end the story. Now, I have some sort of idea. Yeah... I do not own _Slayers_, Major League Baseball, any member of Gerao-A or gratuitous usage of an online English-to-Portuguese translator.

* * *

Ni-juu-hachi

_A Few Slight Time Warps? Add Four to the List!_

Lina was enraged. It was not the usual sense of anger that she normally dealt with whenever the violet-haired man was around her. That was mere a child's spat compared to what she felt now. This time, she glared violently at Xellos, her arms crossed and expression rigid.

"_You_," she snarled. The manager tried to move so that he could make his escape down the long hallway underneath Jones Soda Stadium, but due to the much taller, and much stronger, Kurt securing him by the shoulders, he was unable to budge an inch.

"Eheh, you don't understand Inverse," Xellos said with a nervous grin. "The Gladiators' manager was obviously challenging me with his interpretive dancing on top of his own dugout. I can assure you that it was for the sake of the team..."

"Sake of the team my ass," Kurt hissed into Xellos's ear. "Be glad the game has been long over. Do you realize how pissed Lina was when she woke up?"

"...very...?"

"Exactly." The centerfielder smirked as he looked over at his teammate. "That was what, five hours ago, eh Lina?"

"I say a punch and a kick for every hour, plus every person who knows now," the redhead said resolutely. "So that's five, plus Gary and Maliska makes seven. I don't think that pretty little blonde of yours won't recognize you once you finally slink back home." Xellos gulped in horror, closed his eyes and braced himself for what was sure to be the most painful beating of them all.

_Zelas! _Xellos cried internally. _Filia! Where are you two when I need you!?_

"Oi!" called out a voice. Lina turned around to see a rather voluptuous woman standing in the hallway. Kurt looked over the shortstop's shoulder and allowed his jaw to drop and his grip loosen.

"Who are you?" Lina asked. She glanced back at Kurt, only to find that Xellos had slipped from his grasp and was currently running down the hall to safety. She cursed under her breath and looked back at the mysterious woman, who seemed rather smug. A press pass hung around her neck and she carried herself with an air that Lina found to be quite familiar.

"You don't remember me?" the woman gasped. "I'm sure your friend there does." She pointed over towards Kurt, who was making unintelligible noises and twitching.

"If you're here for an interview, I'm gonna have to tell you to bug off," Lina grunted, scratching the back of her exposed neck. She was relieved that she only a few minutes before been released from the care of the nurse Maliska and had no time to change out of Liam's guise, smeared with dirt and caked in her own dried blood.

"Oh, I'm here for something much more important than an interview..." the woman smiled slyly. Her hand raised to besides her mouth and she gave off a deep, screeching laugh that caused Lina to stumble in surprise.

"What the...?" she gasped, immediately recognizing the laugh. "Garcia? How in the hell did you get here?"

"I work here, of course," Naga smiled, waving her press pass for the two athletes to see. "My man and I are the commentators for every game you play."

"Wait a second, that makes no sense," Kurt said, finally getting over the shock. "Our commentators' names are AirJay and Naga."

"No sense at all Garcia," Lina added. "Not once have I heard about you or that pervert Jayson in all my time here."

"_Cala-te_! I heard that you little _despeitada_ punk!" shouted AirJay, jumping out from behind the nearby corner. He had a lit lighter in his hand and seemed to be ready to charge. He was then forced to retreat, courtesy of Ramon and Nehszriah forcing him back into their now-known hiding spot. Nehszriah waved with a nervous smile once she and Ramon had AirJay under control and popped back out of sight.

"So, where were we...?" Naga sighed, a large grin upon her face. "It's been a long time you little cross-dresser. Where's the blackmailing to begin?"

**80808080808080808**

Zelgadis sat up from his sleeping position on the polished conference table. He leaned back in the high-backed chair and let out a long yawn, wincing at the headache that the last few hours had induced. The clock on the wall said that it was nearing midnight and he had yet to go home. Maliska let out a satisfied sound next to him as she finally finished cleaning up all the mess that having Lina there had left behind.

"Well, everything's done here Mr. Graywords," she said. Zelgadis looked up and saw the medic appearing quite pleased.

"Oh, okay. You can go now. Remember: tell no one about Liam's secret," he replied gruffly. The man glanced around the room as Maliska headed for the door and became puzzled. "Wait a second, where did Amelia go? Wasn't she here just a moment ago?"

"Yeah, but she left when you fell asleep," the nurse explained. "She said something about needing to go to a press conference in your stead. The Slayers did win tonight's game after all."

"Oh, we did?" Zelgadis asked, sleepy suprise in his voice.

"Yes, we did." Maliska rolled her eyes in amusement as Zelgadis stood up and walked over to the door as well. Without another word, they both walked through the doors and down separate wings of the hall.

_We won, eh?_ Zelgadis thought to himself, shoving his hands into his pockets_. Too bad Amelia didn't wake me up. I would have gone to the post-game press conference myself. Wait... I was asleep from the time Inverse and Fuchs were calm enough to fake apologies to one another. I would have been horrible. At least Amelia knows what she can tell about Inverse's condition._ Zelgadis turned the corner and stared blandly at the scene that he had stumbled upon. There was Lina and Kurt, as well as a vaguely familiar and large-chested woman standing in the hall. Lina and the woman were fighting, scratching and kicking at every chance they got. Kurt stood off to the side and tried getting into the scuffle in order to stop things, but recoiled every time due to being hit by a stray swipe.

"Ah! There you are!" Kurt said, noticing Zelgadis standing there. He ran over to the chimera and dragged him over to the two women. "You pay both of them. Make them stop."

"Kurt, are you nuts?" Zelgadis answered, still slightly sleepy. "Mess with women, you've got a week in the hospital coming. I thought being Lina's teammate, you'd get that by now."

"Yeah, but that's Amelia's sister," the fielder pointed out.

"Amelia's sister?"

"Yup."

"The one that's been gone for only she knows long?"

"The one and the same."

"Then let them continue until one passes out," Zelgadis smiled. He walked away, leaving Kurt to the mess. The stony man turned the other corner and saw who ended up being Nehszriah and Ramon finishing hog-tying AirJay, Kiko barking at their sides. The three commentators looked up at Zelgadis and halted all form of movement.

"Who are you guys?" Zelgadis asked.

"Oh!" Nehszriah laughed nervously. "We're three of the World Series commentators! Naga's our fourth. We're just waiting for her to be done with business!"

"Don't worry about us," Ramon added. "Just making sure AirJay here stays harmless."

"_Ola, Rocha_. _Como você fazendo com a irmã da minha mulher?_" AirJay said to Zelgadis with relish, a devilish grin upon his face. He struggled slightly with the rope that bound his hands to his feet, trying to get his lighter loose.

"Okay, I'm going to assume that he said something rude, because he looked like he had too much fun saying it," Zelgadis sighed. He walked past the second fray of the past five minutes and ignored everything else he came across until his car.

**80808080808080808**

The games that passed after "Liam's Accident" were long ones for the Portland Slayers, athletes and fans alike. With their shortstop out of commission, the scared-stiff backup, Esteban Hernandez, had to fill in the position while the team was hosted in Knoxville, which might have done more harm than good. He was nervous throughout the entire time he was playing and dropped the ball during game play… more than once. Three games had to pass in this fashion, all the while Lina was screaming instructions from the bench to her team as they lost by close margins and bugging Maliska constantly about when she could play again. After not getting a single speck of quiet, the frazzled medic finally gave Lina clearance to play for the fifth game of the series. The return of Liam was taken with a reluctant welcome, for the fifth game would have to be the deciding one; for the Slayers, it was either win or give up the Series.

"Oh, does it feel good to be back!" Lina said happily as she stretched on her way back from changing in the bathroom stalls. She still had a rather large bandage stuck to her forehead, making her seem more like an eyesore than an athlete ready for game play.

"You better pay attention this time," warned Gary as Lina passed his on her way to her locker. Lina smiled slyly as she caught the second baseman trying to stare at her flattened and near non-existent chest.

"You just worry about yourself and I'll make sure I won't stare at our manager for too long," Lina laughed.

"Are you sure Miss Maliska said it was alright for you to play today?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah," Lina answered. "Why?"

"No offence Liam, but you do have the habit of taking things into your own hands," Kurt noted as Lina sat down next to him. "Your record doesn't help you this time."

"Okay, so what? Call the woman if you guys doubt me that much," Lina sighed. "Just give me a break already."

"Oi, Liam," Takashi called from the door. "There's some woman sitting outside. Says she's got an order to video-interview you."

"Not now!" Lina snarled. "Tell her to go away."

"Says a 'Naga' sent her," Takashi replied.

"Oh, for the love of Pete!" Lina huffed, stomping over towards the door where Takashi stood by. Lina burst into the hall and looked around, only to see a demure young woman with blue-black hair standing next to a camera set atop a tripod that was firmly attached to a truck.

"H-Hello-o Mr. Liam," stuttered the woman. "My name is Sylphiel Nels-Rada. Miss Naga told me to interview you."

"For what…?" Lina asked gruffly.

"I don't know. I have a list of questions and I am supposed to ask you some and Mr. Gourry some…"

"Mr. Gourry…?"

"Yes, Gourry Gabriev!" Sylphiel squeaked. Blush spread across her face quickly at mentioning the pitcher's name. "You do think he would let me interview him, right?"

"Hey, you're the professional reporter here, not me," Lina scoffed.

"Actually, I'm just a student," Sylphiel admitted. She then screwed up her face into fierce determination. "Please, let me interview you Mr. Liam!"

"…only if you cut the 'mister' bit."

"Yes sir!" Slyphiel took and turned on the camera and positioned it so that it was trained on Lina and went to stand next the subject, microphone in hand. After making sure the microphone was on, the student reporter put a nervous smile on and stared right at the camera. "Sylphiel Nels-Rada here with Liam Inverse, rookie catcher for the Portland Slayers." She then turned towards Lina, seeming to gain a bit more pep with every word. "Is it alright if we ask you a few questions?" She shoved the microphone into Lina's face, nearly knocking it into the shortstop's teeth.

"Uh, sure," Lina said, scratching the back of her head. "You do have me out here after all."

"Okay! How did it feel to sit out the past three games?"

"Dreadful."

"Did you try to be a part of the team anyways by offering advice and counsel to those who were playing?"

"Constantly."

"Did you and the rest of your teammates give your manager a severe talking-to after the first game, where you were tragically injured?"

"Yup." Lina allowed a large grin to wipe across her face as she thought about how good it felt to threaten Xellos.

"How is the feelings in the locker room, now that the Slayers are one game away from losing it all?"

"Crap."

"Is there any way I will be able to get more than a one-word answer from you?"

"Nope."

"Alright then…!" Slyphiel said, a false grin on her face. She turned her vision towards the camera again and sighed slightly. "This is Sylphiel Nels-Rada, back to you guys in the studio." She then quickly turned the camera off and bowed towards Lina. "Thank you again Mr. Liam."

"Was that live or something?"

"Umm… not really, but that's pretty much what's going to be played on air."

"Great…" Lina groaned. She looked over at Sylphiel and nodded. "Well, good luck interviewing Gabriev."

"Oh! Thank you!" Sylphiel said, blush running across her face again. She grabbed hold of the tripod and pushed it along the hall. Lina watched as the student ran along and tripped. She raised an eyebrow as the girl got back up and continued scuttling along.

"Hey, Liam!" hissed Jan as he stuck his head out the door. "You done yet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's almost time for the game! Come on!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

_Cala-te_: "Shut up."

_Despeitada_: "flat-chested"

Hog-tying AirJay: He had it coming. -winks-

_Ola, Rocha_. _Como você fazendo com a irmã da minha mulher?_: "Heya Rocky. How's it going with my woman's sister?"... I think. I forgot to write it down. -is a bad person-

Sylphiel: Why is she a wide-eyed student? Well, because that's what I am... a poor excuse for a sports journalism student. For one weekend, I had passes to all the high school football I could handle, as well as some touring of the field during game time. The press box at Ford Field was so high I got a headache!-Psyduck noise-

Next Chapter: Pray to St. Jude that it comes to me quickly. If you're not one for Christianity or praying, then cross your fingers.


End file.
